Chandigarh: Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year sentence for rape and a lifer for a murder, in district Rohtak’s Sunaria jail in Haryana, was again granted a 40-day parole on Sunday.
For record, the Dera head is serving life imprisonment in a case of journalist’s murder and a 20-year sentence for raping two of his disciples, given by a special CBI court in Panchkula in 2017.
It is for the 15th time that the Dera head has been granted temporary release – on parole or furlough - since his conviction in the said cases in 2017. Prior to this, his last parole was granted in August 2025 which he reportedly took to celebrate his 58th birthday. His parole has been approved by the Rohtak divisional commissioner.
While Singh was granted furlough or parole for different reasons and occasions – though the same fell around elections in Haryana, Punjab and Delhi - this time, however, he has been granted parole to attend an annual religious ceremony at the Dera at Sirsa.
He was granted a 30-day parole in January ahead of Delhi assembly polls last year, a 20-day parole in October in 2024 ahead of Haryana assembly elections and in February 2022, before Punjab assembly polls.
While his allegedly ``frequent’’ releases evoked criticism from political circles for having been granted ahead of polls, the Sikh organisations including Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), has also questioned the said releases being given to a convict serving sentences for heinous crimes like rape and murder.
The said Dera has a huge number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other nearby states and it is also a known fact that the Dera has for long tacitly supported different political parties in the region where it has a huge number of its followers.
