New Delhi: Out on parole for 40 days, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim Singh organised his very first digital satsang (religious gathering) Monday. A number of Karnal BJP leaders, together with Renu Bala Gupta, mayor of Karnal, which can also be Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s constituency, logged in to listen to the non secular chief converse and sought the ‘blessings’ of the rape and homicide convict.
Singh, who’s serving a jail sentence in Haryana’s Sunaria jail after being convicted in rape and homicide instances, was granted parole on 14 October for 40 days. His parole comes days earlier than the Adampur bypoll and the Panchayat election within the state.
Mayor Gupta, who was seen having a digital dialog with Singh, requested him to come back to Karnal and stated town had benefitted from his blessings and his message of cleanliness. Singh was addressing the net satsang from Uttar Pradesh’s Barnawa village.
Senior Deputy mayor of Karnal Rajesh Aghi and Deputy Mayor Naveen Kumar, each members of the BJP, additionally interacted with the Dera Sacha Sauda chief. The video of the satsang is accessible on YouTube.
“I’ve come to Sirsa many occasions, wish to meet you once more,” stated Aghi. The Dera relies in Sirsa, a district in Haryana.
Mayor Gupta additionally bodily met Singh. And although she arrived solely in the direction of the top of the satsang on account of visitors, she took the microphone and addressed the Dera Chief as ‘Pitaji’ — a standard method for Dera followers to discuss with Singh.
“Pitaji, could you keep your blessings on us. Final time you got here to Karnal, you gave a message of cleanliness, this time additionally you must come and keep your blessings,” the BJP mayor stated.
ThePrint reached Gupta by way of calls, however had not acquired a response on the time of publishing this report. The story can be up to date when a response is acquired.
Gupta has received the election for the mayor’s publish twice in a row — in 2013 and 2018 — and retained her place within the seat reserved for ladies.
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Well timed paroles
Ram Rahim has earlier been granted furloughs round necessary election dates. He was briefly launched from jail on 24 October, 2020, earlier than the Baroda meeting bypoll in Haryana to satisfy his ailing mom. He was later granted a furlough for 21 days earlier this yr in February earlier than the Punjab meeting polls. He was once more granted a month of parole in June earlier than the civic physique polls in Haryana and Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll in Punjab.
It’s believed that the Dera Sacha Sauda chief enjoys a lot recognition amongst Haryana and Punjab’s Dalit communities and may swing election outcomes. Earlier than the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Dera had brazenly supported the BJP for the primary time.
Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment by a particular CBI courtroom in Panchkula in August 2017 after his conviction within the 2002 rape case, whereby he was charged with having raped two of his disciples.
In 2019, he was pronounced responsible together with three others for the homicide of journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati, who had printed an nameless letter in his newspaper alleging sexual exploitation of the ladies by the Dera chief at his ashram. In 2021, a particular CBI courtroom sentenced him to life imprisonment together with 4 others for the homicide of former Dera supervisor Ranjit Singh in 2002.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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