All you need to know about the rape case against Dera Sacha Sauda’s Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh
A special CBI court will announce the verdict of the rape case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in Panchkula on August 25.
About 50,000 Dera Sacha Sauda followers converged in Panchkula, Haryana, ahead of the CBI verdict on the rape case against the sect’s chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh expected on Friday.
Police have stepped up security anticipating protests by Dera followers.
Here’s what you need to know about the rape case:
• The verdict will be declared by the CBI court in Panchkula after more than a decade of trial proceedings over allegations by two female ex-followers of the Dera that they were sexually exploited at the sect’s headquarters in Sirsa, Haryana.
• The sadhvis who were members of the Dera Sacha Sauda had accused Singh of rape and the case was registered in 2002. It was taken up by the Punjab and Haryana high court but was later handed over to the CBI.
• CBI officials said they had concrete evidence against Singh. The agency charged hi with sexually exploiting sadhvis after tracking down two victims. Their statements have been recorded before a magistrate under section 164 CrPC, which makes them admissible as evidence.
• Sources said Khatta Singh, once a close associate and driver of Sinh, was also a witness against the Dera chief.
• The controversy deepened after a man was allegedly shot dead by Dera followers in July the same year as he was suspected to be behind an anonymous letter sent to the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The letter levelled charges of sexual assault.
• In the letter, a sadhvi had said she was asked to go into Singh’s room late one night. The Baba, she wrote, was sitting on the bed. A pornographic film was playing on the TV and a revolver was lying near the bed. Singh then raped her and the assaults continued for the next three years. The sadhvi also said 35-40 others were exploited like her.