Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's parole plea rejected by Punjab and Haryana High Court

In a setback to rape convict and Dera Sacha Sauda chief, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday rejected parole plea Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The plea was filed by his wife. The sect head is currently lodged at Sunaria jail in Rohtak after being convicted in two rape cases and murder of a journalist. The dera chief had applied for the parole to attend to his ailing mother.

Previously, Gurmeet Ram Rahim withdrew his parole plea, days after filing it saying that he wanted to attend to his agricultural fields. In a letter dated June 18, the official had sought a report whether releasing Gurmeet on parole would be feasible or not.

In the communique, the jail superintendent mentioned that Gurmeet's conduct in jail has been good and he has not violated any rule. The Sirsa district administration has been asked to submit a report to the commissioner of Rohtak division with a copy marked to the jail superintendent.

Sirsa's Superintendent of Police Dr Arun Singh said that they had not yet given their report to the Sirsa deputy commissioner as various formalities have to be completed before doing so.

"The report will be prepared taking into account merits and demerits of the parole, if granted. On a routine basis, we prepare reports on parole applications based on merits and demerits of each case," he had news agency PTI.

"He has applied for parole, which he is entitled to. There is a procedure involved.

On receiving the letter, the Sirsa Police had approached the Revenue Department to ascertain how much land the Dera chief owns.

In August 2017, the Dera chief was sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping two women. A special CBI court in Panchkula had in January this year also sentenced him and three others to life imprisonment for the murder of a journalist over 16 years ago.