The three-day long mammoth exercise to carry out “sanitisation” of the sprawling Dera Sacha Sauda sect headquarters at Sirsa ended on Sunday evening.
Security forces were present in strength at the Dera premises for the searches even as curfew imposed in villages around the premises was relaxed for a few hours on Sunday afternoon.
“The search operation process in the Dera was launched from September 8 and was overseen by Court Commissioner AKS Pawar. The search operation continued till Sunday evening and the process is complete now,” said Haryana Government's Public Relations Department Deputy Director, Satish Mehra while talking to the mediapesons.
He said that the operation remained peaceful and various teams engaged in this operation have submitted their report to the court commissioner, who will now submit his report to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Court Commissioner AKS Pawar, retired District and Sessions Judge appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 5 to supervise the search operation at over 800-acre dera headquarters also held a meeting with civil and police officers to assess the progress and decide on the future course of action.
The three days sanitisation process led to unearthing of two secret tunnels, including one that connected the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim's residence with the hostel for female disciples, and an illegal firecracker factory. The other fibre glass tunnel detected by the security forces opened some five kilometre away from the dera head's private residence.
An empty box of AK-47 cartridges, 84 cartons of fire crackers and chemicals from the illegal factory, besides hundreds of pairs of shoes, designer clothing and caps, were also found.
Two secret tunnels and an illegal factory to make explosives were unearthed on the premises on Saturday and a case had been registered against the Dera management on this count, Satish Mehra said.
Other irregularities found in the functioning of a campus hospital included unauthorised operation of a skin bank, irregularities in conduct of pregnancy tests and sending of bodies to other hospitals.
The search teams also found fancy, modified and vintage cars, used by the disgraced sect chief, inside the premises. A few computers, a luxury sport utility vehicle and currency notes were seized.
Meanwhile, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar, while talking to the media persons in Fatehabad that there was “no delay” on part of his government in carrying out searches.
He said the government was awaiting the court orders to conduct the searches.
The search was launched on the Dera premises in the wake of conviction of sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in two rape cases last month and the subsequent violence by his supporters which left 35 people dead in clashes in Panchkula. Six others died in Sirsa.
The sect chief has been jailed for 20 years for raping two of his disciples.
The sprawling Sirsa dera complex includes a township with schools, a sports village, a hospital, a shopping mall and a cinema hall. The property is also home to an ostentatious '7-star MSG resort' with replicas of Eiffel Tower, Taj Mahal, Kremlin and Disney World inside.
Police, paramilitary and civil administration personnel were involved in the mammoth operation which started on Friday. The entire sanitisation process was videographed.