CHANDIGARH/SIRSA, Aug 27: Haryana was on edge today, a day before the special CBI Judge pronounces the sentence against the maverick Dera Sacha Sauda cult chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, convicted of raping his two women followers, in Rohtak jail tomorrow.
CBI court Judge Jagdeep Singh will be flown to Rohtak district jail where he would pronounce the quantum of sentence against Singh, whose conviction on Friday saw his followers run riot in several places in Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Ripples were also felt in Delhi and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.
The death toll in violence and arson that immediately followed the conviction of the flamboyant chief of the sect that has millions of followers in India and abroad, meanwhile, has risen to 38, state’s Director General of Police B S Sandhu said.
Police have registered 52 cases in connection with the violence which left a trail of destruction, particularly in Panchkula and Sirsa in Haryana, and arrested 926 people, Sandhu told a press conference in Chandigarh.
A multi-layer security cordon has been thrown around the jail where Singh has been lodged, Sandhu said.
The jail is located at Sunaria, on the outskirts of Rohtak city, which resembles a garrison town with security pickets all over the place.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had yesterday ordered the Haryana Government to make necessary arrangements at the jail where the judge would sentence Singh in the 15-year-old case of sexual assault of two sadhvis.
Inspector General of Police (Rohtak range) Navdeep Virk, who is overseeing security arrangements in Rohtak, said there was a “complete clampdown” on dera centres known as (naam charcha ghar) and all its functionaries who could gather people for creating trouble have been put under detention in the state.
Sandhu, meanwhile said, Army was on standby in Rohtak to meet any eventuality.
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) prohibiting assembly of five or more persons, and carrying of firearms and other weapons is already in place in Rohtak.
All educational institutions, including Government and private schools, colleges and other institutions in the entire State, will remain closed tomorrow, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said in an official release.
Sandhu said curfew has been lifted from all places in Haryana barring Sirsa, where the sect is heaquartered. Sirsa district administration relaxed curfew for five hours in and around the dera headquarters this morning.
There have been no reports of violence from anywhere in Haryana and Punjab since yesterday.
Train operations in Punjab and Haryana, severely affected by violence in two states, have been restored, except for the Delhi-Rohtak-Bathinda section, a railway ministry statement said in New Delhi.
The security clearance for the section is awaited from State authorities, it said.
Mobile internet services will remain suspended in Haryana and Punjab till 11:30 am on Tuesday. Internet lease lines on the premises of the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters at Sirsa will also be suspended till then, officials said.
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