ROHTAK, April 9 — Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of raping two disciples, walked out of Sunaria jail on Wednesday after being granted a 21-day furlough—his 13th temporary release since 2020.
Jail officials confirmed that Ram Rahim is headed to the sect’s headquarters in Sirsa. “This is the first time he will spend the entire furlough period at the Sirsa-based sect,” said an official familiar with the matter.
Serving a 20-year sentence since 2017, the dera chief’s frequent paroles and furloughs have drawn attention for their timing, often aligning with elections.
On January 28, just ahead of the Delhi assembly elections, he was released on a 30-day parole. In November 2023, he was out on a 29-day parole days before Rajasthan voted. A 20-day parole came before the Haryana polls in October 2023, and a 30-day parole in July that year preceded the state’s panchayat elections.
Earlier, he was granted a 40-day parole before the Adampur bypolls in October 2022, a 30-day parole before the Haryana municipal elections in June 2022, and a 21-day furlough before the 2022 Punjab assembly elections.
Back in October 2020, he was given day-long parole to visit his ailing mother at a Gurugram hospital—the same day Baroda byelections were held in Sonepat.
Despite public scrutiny, officials have repeatedly described these releases as legal and procedural.
