New Delhi: A video of controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is currently out on parole, is going viral on social media platforms in which he can be seen cutting a huge cake with a sword. In the viral video, the Sirsa-Dera chief can be seen in a celebratory mood, days after coming out of Sunaria Jail in Haryana’s Rohtak district. Gurmeet Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year sentence for rape and murder. He was recently granted parole for 40 days by a local court. After being released from jail, the Dera chief reached his Barnawa Ashram in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh.
In his bail application, the Sirsa-Dera chief had contended before the court that he wanted to attend a program organized on January 25 to mark the birth anniversary of former Dera chief Shah Satnam Singh.
In the purported viral video, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh ‘Insaan’ chief can be heard saying, “After five years there is a chance to celebrate like this so I should cut at least five cakes. This is the first cake.”
Haryana | Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim seen cutting cake with sword during 40-day parole (23.01) pic.twitter.com/bVrD6ce5q7– ANI (@ANI) January 24, 2023
A fresh controversy involving Gurmeet Ram Rahim has erupted ever since the Arms Act banned the public display of weapons ie cutting a cake with a sword.
The Dera chief on Monday virtually inaugurated a massive cleanliness drive organized by his sect’s volunteers at several places in Haryana and some other states. The event was attended by some senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Haryana, including Rajya Sabha MP Krishan Lal Panwar and former minister Krishan Kumar Bedi.
Ram Rahim has been granted parole for the fourth time in the last 14 months and for the second time in less than three months. The Sirsa-Dera chief was earlier released on parole for 40 days in October 2022 ahead of the Haryana panchayat elections and the Adampur assembly bypolls.
Significantly, in August 2017, a special CBI court in Panchkula convicted Ram Rahim for raping two female followers. His conviction was based on a case registered by the CBI on orders passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2003.
The central probe agency had earlier taken over the probe into the case registered at Police Station Sadar in Kurukshetra. It is alleged that former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, a resident of village Khanpur Kolian of Kurukshetra, was murdered on July 10, 2002, while he was working in his fields in village Khanpur Kolian of district Kurukshetra, Haryana.
After a thorough investigation, the CBI filed a charge sheet against six accused in 2007 and charges were framed in 2008, while on October 8, 2021, the court convicted Rahim and four others in the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh. Appointed.