Chandigarh: Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted one-month parole by the BJP-ruled government in Haryana. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is currently serving a life term in a jail in Haryana's Rohtak after his 2017 conviction in two rape cases. He has also been convicted for the murder of his manager in 2002.
Though Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was granted parole for the first time since his conviction, the Dera chief has come out of jail four times on furlogh so far - the recent being in February, when he was granted three week's furlough.
While parole means the release of a prisoner either temporarily for a special purpose or completely before the expiry of a sentence, on the promise of good behaviour, a furlough is a short-term temporary release of convicts from jail.
The sect chief is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the dera is headquartered. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017.
Last year, the Dera sect head was also convicted along with four others for hatching a conspiracy to kill Dera manager Ranjit Singh in 2002. In 2019, Ram Rahim and three others were also convicted for the murder of a journalist in 2002.
The Dera chief, sources say, will likely go to Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram, Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Bhagpat.
With inputs from PTI