Dera Sacha Sauda chief gets 20-day parole
barred from entering Haryana, taking part in poll activities
Chandigarh, Oct 1: The Haryana government has granted a 20-day parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh while barring him from taking part in election-related activities and staying in Haryana during the period.
Singh, who is lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria jail, is serving a 20-year sentence given in 2017 for raping two of his disciples. The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.
He had sought a 20-day parole ahead of the October 5 Haryana Assembly polls.
The parole has been granted, an official said on Tuesday.
According to the parole conditions, the sect chief will not take part in any election-related activity and will stay out of Haryana during the period.
He will stay at Dera ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Barnawa (Baghpat) during the period. The Dera chief had said he wanted to stay in Baghpat during the parole, if granted.
The jails department had forwarded the Dera chief's parole plea to the office of the Haryana Chief Electoral Officer in view of the Model Code being in place for the assembly polls.
Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal had said on Monday that the Haryana government may consider Singh's parole subject to the correctness of facts mentioned in his parole plea and satisfying other conditions with respect to the Model Code of Conduct for elections.
In a letter to Haryana Jail Department's additional chief secretary, the state chief electoral officer referred to the September 30 letter by the administration which conveyed the "emergency and compelling reasons" furnished by the convict while seeking the 20-day parole.
The CEO said, "In view of the above mentioned letters, the state government may consider the matter regarding grant of parole (20 days) to convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh confined in district jail, Rohtak, subject to the correctness of the facts regarding emergency and compelling reasons as mentioned in your letter dated September 30,"
The CEO said that the parole will be subject to the conditions that he will not visit Haryana, will not make any public speech or indulge in any political activity during this period.
"Further, a strict watch should be kept on the movement of convict and it should be ensured that he does not indulge in any election-related activity. If he is found indulging in any objectionable activity, his parole should be cancelled forthwith," the letter warned.
The state goes to polls on October 5 and results would be out on October 8.
In the past, some of Singh's paroles and furloughs have coincided with polls in Punjab, Haryana and neighbouring states. Opposition parties had criticised the grant of relief to Singh.
In August this year, Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was granted three weeks' furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly polls.
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
