The private army of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, wanted to take him to the Rohtak jail in his personal SUV on Friday, the day he was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula for raping two women followers.
Director-General of Police B.S. Sandhu told The Hindu on Monday that the police objected to this, leading to a “minor scuffle” with the private guards.
“There was no political pressure on us. He came in his private SUV as he was summoned by the court. Once he was convicted, his security guards wanted to take him to the Rohtak prison in his SUV. We didn’t allow it. We have registered a separate case for this,” Mr. Sandhu said.
Dr. Veena Singh, principal medical officer of the civil hospital in Panchkula, said a woman accompanying the Dera chief came with a bagful of medicines in an attempt to convince the court against sending him to jail. Three doctors of the hospital were present in the courtroom to conduct a medical check-up of Mr. Singh before he was sent to jail.
Normal health
“Our doctors checked Singh and all his vitals were found to be normal. His blood pressure was also normal. The woman accompanying him tried to tell the doctors that he was unwell and had severe back pain. She displayed medicines of diabetes, hypertension, etc. The doctors told the court that he was fit to go to jail,” Dr. Singh said.
The woman was later identified as Honeypreet Insaan, the adopted daughter of Dera chief, who is said to be his successor.
Mr. Sandhu said they opened fire on the people who had gathered outside the Panchkula court premises as they had stared setting the city on fire.
Police action
“How long could we have waited. We first fired tear gas shells, water cannons and pellet guns. When they started burning properties, the duty magistrate gave us permission to shoot,” Mr. Sandhu said.
He said they were well prepared as they were aware of the past violent history of Dera supporters. He said they had seized 24 SUVs which were part of the Dera chief’s cavalcade when he travelled to the Panchkula court on August 25.
Phone intercepts
He said the police was in possession of phone intercepts of Dera officials who were heard instigating the violence.
“We cannot disclose the content as it is submitted in a sealed cover to the High Court,” he said.
Mr. Sandhu said many people were leaving the Dera headquarters of the self-appointed godman voluntarily and they would enter the premises soon since the priority was to restore normality first.
