Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year jail term for rape, was granted Z-Plus security cover by the Haryana government, a report by India Today said. This comes after his request for furlough was approved earlier this month.
The 21-day furlough comes just days ahead of the assembly polls in Punjab, where the sect has a large number of followers, particularly in Bathinda, Sangrur, Patiala and Muktsar.
People in the Z-Plus category get 10 security personnel for mobile security, and two (plus eight) for residence security. The Z-Plus level of security is provided by National Security Guard commandos.
The sect chief is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the dera is headquartered. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017. Sources said he has been granted furlough for meeting his family in Gurugram. He had applied for it to the Sunaria jail superintendent and later a recommendation from the concerned officials in Gurugram was also sought.
The 54-year-old was convicted in this case by a special CBI court in Panchkula in 2017.
The Dera head was granted a furlough of 21 days on February 7.
Dera followers - who number in the crores and have been relatively subdued since Rahim Singh was jailed - are widely seen as voting in accordance with diktats from sect leaders.
