Amid speculations over illegal activities and presence of huge cache of illegal arms and ammunition inside the Dera Sacha Sauda sect headquarters at Sirsa, Haryana CM Manohar lal on Monday said that a search operation would be launched at the Dera headquarters under the supervision of court.
“The Dera has deposited its arms with the State Government and the people insider the Dera are cooperating with the Government. Some objectionable items have been found during the sanitisation of Dera’s naamcharcha ghars in the State,” said the Chief Minister, while talking to the mediapersons at Rewari.
He said that as many as 117 naamcharcha ghars, associated with the Dera, have been sanitised in the State. Now, search operation would be launched at Sirsa headquarters under the supervision of court, said Manohar lal.
For conducting the search operation, the State Government has approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court for appointment of a judicial magistrate and act accordingly, on the directions of the court in this regard. Rape convict dera sect chief Gumeet Ram Rahim, had led a life of extravagance and grandeur at his sprawling 800-acre Sirsa dera headquarter, which is a township in itself, with schools, sports village, hospital, meditation centre, housing complex and cinema hall.
When asked about searching other dera’s naamcharcha ghars in the State, Manohar lal said, “It is okay if these are running in a right manner but, in case any complaint is received against any one of them, strict action would be taken.”
Meanwhile, a huge cache of ultra-modern arms and ammunition have been deposited to Haryana Police by followers of Sirsa headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda sect on Monday. Dera sect followers deposited their licensed weapons after district police authorities asked them to surrender their arms and ammunitions.
“A total of 33 licensed arms including single barrel, double barrel guns and 9 mm pistols have been deposited by Dera followers,” said Sirsa Sadar police SHO Dinesh Kumar while talking to the mediapersons. Among them, there are some modified weapons as well, the SHO said.
He said that we had asked Dera followers to deposit their weapons within two day. There are 67 licensed weapons in the name of Dera Sacha Sauda. We got information from the Dera administration that it has collected 33 of them and that we should take them from its office, he added.
The SHO said, “We have asked the Dera administration to tell the police about the remaining 34 weapons as soon as possible. Otherwise, the police will take action.”
In the past, allegations had surfaced that the Dera chief was providing illegal arms training to his followers at the sect’s headquarters. The matter is currently sub judice. During sanitisation of 117 Dera’s naamcharcha ghars in the State, big knives, swords, more than 300 sticks, iron rods, bottles of diesel, petrol and kerosene, grass cutter swords, axes, scissors, khurpas, over 5,000 lathis and dandas, kasis, video systems, anti sabotage kits, mirchi sprays, mirchi powder, sariyas among other things were recovered by Haryana Police.
A special CBI court in Panchkula had sentenced the Dera chief to 20-year imprisonment in a rape case on August 28. Fifty-year-old Ram Rahim Singh is lodged in the Sunaria jail in Rohtak district, where a thick blanket of security has been thrown around.
After the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief, violence had broken out in Panchkula and Sirsa, leaving atleast 40 dead and more than 260 injured. 34 people had died in Panchkula while six in Sirsa.