Dera Sacha Sauda Baba found guilty of rape, quantum of punishment on Monday

Mangalore Today News Network

Panchkula, Aug 25: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was today convicted by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula. Quantum of punishment will be announced on Monday (August 28)

The sexual exploitation case was registered against the Dera chief in 2002 by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after anonymous letters were circulated about the alleged sexual exploitation of two ’sadhvis’ (female followers) by Ram Rahim .

The Dera chief, however, has denied these charges.

Amid heavy security, the 50-year-old Dera head left the sect-headquarters at Sirsa, about 260 km from Chandigarh, at about 9:00am.

The Dera chief, who enjoys ’Z’ category security, travlled travelling in a convoy that included hundreds of SUVs, to reach Panchkula.

As the Dera head left the sect headquarters at Sirsa, some of the followers standing on the roadside turned hysterical and held up the cavalcade for a few minutes.

The followers, mostly young men, squatted on the road just in front of the cavalcade. However, the police immediately evicted them following which the Dera chief continued his onward journey to Panchkula.

An unprecedented security cover was made for the verdict in the case as thousands of Dera followers poured in Panchkula. The followers refused to leave the town despite appeals from police and Gurmeet Ram Rahim himself. Army was also called in Sirsa, Haryana to deal with any untoward incident following the rape case verdict.

Courtesy: Yahoo news