Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim granted furlough for 21 days
He will stay in Dera's ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district
New Delhi, August 13
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year jail term over the rape of two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa was granted a 21-day furlough.
The self-styled godman was released from the jail at 6:30 am on August 13. He will stay in Dera's ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district.
Earlier, he was released from jail on furlough on eight separate occasions for different reasons, including his appeal to visit his ailing mother.
Singh's latest release on furlough comes days after the Punjab and Haryana High Court disposed of a petition that challenged the grant of temporary release to him.
Singh is serving a 20-year sentence for raping two of his disciples and is lodged in the Sunaria jail in Rohtak district. He was sentenced in 2017.
The Dera chief and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.
In May, the high court acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect's former manager Ranjit Singh, citing "tainted and sketchy" investigations in the matter.
