The special investigation team (SIT) of Haryana Police on Tuesday filed a chargesheet against Honeypreet Insan, adopted daughter of the dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in connection with the August 25 violence in Panchkula and Sirsa following the dera chief conviction in a rape case.
Widespread violence broke out soon after the sect chief was held guilty of raping two women by a special CBI court in Panchkula.
The violence had left 41 people dead and more than 260 injured.
A 1,200 page charge-sheet was filed against Honeypreet and other accused in a Panchkula court. Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, currently in judicial remand in the Ambala central jail since October 14, was arrested by the Haryana police on October 3.
She had joined the court proceedings through video-conferencing on Tuesday.
A lookout notice, and later an arrest warrant, was issued by the Haryana Police against Honeypreet before she was arrested last month. Immediately after her arrest on October 3, the second-in-command of Dera Sacha Sauda had denied charges of rioting and sedition that Haryana Police had filed against her.
Honeypreet and eleven others have been charged with sedition, criminal conspiracy, besides other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The police has charged Honeypreet of planning the violence and distributing money for the purpose.
The police, sources said, have maintained that the violence was pre-meditated and Honeypreet was the main conspirator.
Three others have been charged under Section 216 of the IPC (Harbouring offender who has escaped from custody or whose apprehension has been ordered) for giving shelter to Honeypreet when she was on the run, said Panchkula Police Commissioner A S Chawla.
The charge sheet was filed by the SIT headed by ACP, Panchkula, Mukesh Malhotra, before the court of chief judicial magistrate in Panchkula.
In the chargesheet, Honeypreet and the eleven others, including Dilawar Insan, Surinder Dhiman, and Chamkaur Singh, have been charged under Sections including 121 (waging, or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war, against the government) and 121-A (conspiracy to commit offences) of IPC.
Another key dera member Aditya Insan, who is absconding, was charged as among the conspirators along with Honeypreet for the violence after Ram Rahim Singhs conviction.
During Honeypreets remand, the police had recovered a mobile phone, a laptop, some credit and debit cards and documents of properties and education-related certificates belonging to her. Cash recovery from Chamkaur Singh and documents seized from Honeypreet are among evidences that form part of charge sheet.
Notably, Honeypreet had traveled with the dera chief in a helicopter when he was airlifted from Panchkula to Rohtak’s Sunaria jail after his conviction in rape case.
later, Honeypreet went into hiding for 38 days before her arrest on October 3 from the Zirakpur-Patiala highway.
According to the police, as many as 173 FIRs with nearly 1,000 dera followers as accused for attacking security forces and damaging public property have been registered so far.