Honeypreet Insan arrested on October 3 after remaining untraceable for over a month (File)
A chargesheet has been filed against Honeypreet Insan, the closest aide of jailed self-proclaimed godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, and other accused in connection with the August 25 violence in Panchkula and other places in Haryana following conviction of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief.
The chargesheet was filed by the special investigation team (SIT) of the Haryana police before the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh.
Honeypreet and several other sect functionaries and followers were booked by police on charges of sedition, inciting violence and criminal conspiracy.
Honeypreet, who is also known as Priyanka Taneja, was arrested on October 3 after remaining untraceable for 38 days after the August 25 violence.
She has been lodged in Central Jail, Ambala, 45 km from Chandigarh, since October 23. The SIT took Honeypreet to various locations in Haryana to establish evidence of her involvement in the violence.
A court in Panchkula had in September issued arrest warrants against top Dera functionaries -- Honeypreet, Aditya Insan and Pawan Insan. All three were booked by the Haryana police on charges of sedition and for alleged involvement in a conspiracy to help the Dera chief escape after his conviction by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on August 25 for raping two women in 1999.
Ram Rahim has been sentenced to 20 years. His rape conviction led to violence in Panchkula and Sirsa in Haryana, leaving more than 30 people dead and over 260 injured. Isolated incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several places in Punjab. The Haryana police had sounded an international alert against all three.