Less Than 6 Months After 'Cake-Cutting' Parole, Ram Rahim Out Again

Less than six months after he had held a big bash while on a 40-day parole, rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh walked out of a jail in Haryana today after being granted parole for 30 days. 

This is the Dera Sacha Sauda chief's fifth parole in less than two years and his seventh overall. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2017 for raping two women followers.

Following a controversy over the 40-day parole being given to Ram Rahim in January, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that getting parole after following all procedures was the Dera Sacha Sauda chief's right. 

"I was not aware that Ram Rahim has got parole. But if he has, then it must be after following all the procedures and that is his right. I will not interfere in that," Mr Khattar had said. 

It was during the same parole period that Ram Rahim was seen "celebrating" by cutting a cake with a sword. In a video that had surfaced online in January, he was heard saying, "Got a chance after five years to celebrate like this, so I should cut at least five cakes. This is the first cake."

The Dera chief, who walked out of the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district at 5 pm today, will be going to the Dera Sacha Sauda Ashram at Barnawa in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat, news agency PTI reported. 

During his previous parole periods, he had held several online 'satsangs' at the same ashram. 

Ram Rahim had come out on parole thrice last year - for 21 days during the Punjab Polls in February, for a month in June and for 40 days in October. 

The October parole came ahead of panchayat polls in Haryana and several BJP leaders were seen in attendance at a 'virtual satsang' held by Ram Rahim, inviting attacks from the opposition. 

He was granted parole again in January this year, less than two months after his last parole period ended.