A large posse of security forces under the supervision of retired judge AKS Pawar appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court entered the Dera Sacha Sauda sect headquarters at Sirsa to unravel its dirty secrets on Friday as five children, including two minors, were rescued while hard disk drives, unlabelled medicines, walkie-talkie unregistered luxury car, old and new currency notes were seized.
Children were handed over to the district authorities.
Some rooms were also sealed during the first day of sanitisation process of Sirsa Dera headquarters of jailed rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim with searches to be videotaped.
Nearly ten days back, as many as 18 minor girls were also taken out from the Dera sect headquarters near by the District Administration, Sirsa and the girls were sent to child protection institutes.
There have been several reports of minor girls and boys going missing inside the Dera and parents of such missing children had registered complaints after the conviction of Dera chief Ram Rahim.
“The search operation began around 9 am and peacefully concluded around 6.30 pm on the Dera headquarter premises. It will resume again on Saturday,” district Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh told the mediapersons.
Also, he said the forensic team has begun its investigation in Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s infamous gufa (cave) inside the Dera headquarters.
Haryana’s Information and Public Relations Deputy Director, Satish Mehra, told the mediapersons that some rooms have been sealed, computer hard disk drives, unlabelled medicines recovered, old and new currency notes, unregistered luxury car, an OB van have been recovered during the search operation.
Though officials involved in the search operation remained tight-lipped about the shocking recoveries made inside on Friday, there are reports that the plastic coins or tokens, which are a part of parallel currency coin system run by Dera were also seized during the search operation.
The search operation began 14 days after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief in a rape case on August 25.
The premises of the Dera is spread over 800 acre and houses educational institutions, markets, hospital, stadium, recreational areas and houses.
As authorities launched the search operation, the Haryana Government also ordered suspension of all mobile and dongle internet services, except voice calls, in Sirsa district till September 10. A Home Department spokesman said the decision was taken to curb spread of rumours in the district following the initiation of sanitisation of the Dera headquarters amid tight security following a go-ahead by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 5.
Curfew continued to be imposed in the areas near the Dera premises on Friday and all roads leading to the headquarters from Sirsa and nearby places were sealed.
JCB machines, locksmiths, forensic experts and dog squads were called in to assist the comprehensive search operation launched by security agencies and district administration. Duty magistrates, executive magistrates, excise and revenue officials are also part of the exercise.
Hisar Inspector general of police Amitabh Dhillon, Sirsa SP Ashwin Shenvi and Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh are also part of the exercise.
A total of 41 companies of paramilitary forces, four columns of army have been deployed in Sirsa district. Personnel from the anti-bomb disposal squad and 40 commandos of the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and dog squad are also deployed near the Dera premises.
Dera administration chairperson Vipassana, who is a close aide of the sect head, had issued an appeal to sect followers urging them to cooperate in the search operation.
Hours before the search operation began, the sect’s mouthpiece “Sach Kahoon” had on Thursday admitted that human remains were buried inside the premises.
The Dera newspaper, while defending the action of the Dera management in burying the human remains, had claimed this was done as the sect chief encouraged followers to donate the remains to the sect for burial and prevent these from being immersed in rivers, causing pollution.
Notably, large-scale violence broke out in Panchkula after the Dera chief Ram Rahim Singh’s conviction in rape cases, leaving 35 people dead. Six others died in incidents of violence in Sirsa.
A special CBI court in Panchkula had sentenced the Dera chief to 20-year imprisonment in rape case on August 28. 50-year-old Ram Rahim is lodged in the Sunaria jail in Rohtak district, where a thick blanket of security has been thrown around.