Amid the allegations that several people had been murdered and their bodies were buried inside the premises of Dera Sacha Sauda sect headquarters at Sirsa, a senior Dera functionary has admitted that nearly 600 skeletons can be found buried inside the Dera headquarters.
Dr PR Nain, senior vice chairperson of the Dera Sacha Sauda, who was questioned by a Special Investigation Team of Haryana Police, has revealed that nearly 600 skeletons of Dera devotees can be found buried inside the Dera premises.
Nain has told the SIT that these were bones of the Dera devotees which were buried by their families out of faith that this would give them “moksha” (salvation). The SIT had questioned Nain for two-and-a-half hours at Sirsa during late Tuesday evening.
“Being a senior functionary, Nain was quizzed about various issues relating to the Dera. He was also questioned about people who had gathered in Panchkula and Sirsa (ahead of Dera chief’s conviction),” Dabwali DSP Kuldeep Singh Beniwal told the mediapersons.
“He placed on record of the people whose bones were buried in the Dera. The Dera has handed over the addresses and other contact details of such people,” said Beniwal, who headed the SIT that quizzed Nain.
Khatta Singh, a former driver of Ram Rahim Singh had alleged that several people had been murdered at the instance of the Dera chief and their bodies were buried inside the Dera.
The SIT had earlier this week also questioned Dera chairperson Vipassana Insan in connection with several issues, including whereabouts of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s adopted daughter Honeypreet.
“If the need is felt, we will again call Nain and Vipassana for questioning,” Beniwal said.
Rape convict Ram Rahim’s Dera headquarters is spread in two campuses including, the old and new Dera at Sirsa. The sprawling Dera headquarters which is on over 800-acre land houses a stadium, hospital, educational institutions, a resort, residential complex, markets, and other infrastructure.
Recently, the sect’s mouthpiece “Sach Kahoon” had 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.
After the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief on August 25, violence had broken out in Panchkula and Sirsa, leaving at least 41 dead and more than 260 injured. Thirty-five people had died in Panchkula while six in Sirsa.
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.