Days after Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment after being convicted in two 15-year-old rape cases, the Haryana Police has recovered a huge cache of ultra-modern arms and ammunition from the headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda in Haryana’s Sirsa – the area which witnessed maximum violence on August 25 after Ram Rahim’s conviction.
The recovered arms include 9mm pistols, several single and double-barrel rifles and a modified carbine.
Dinesh Kumar, Sirsa Sadar SHO, confirmed to India TV that these arms were recovered from the Dera premises. He said that soon after Ram Rahim’s conviction, their target was to recover all licensed as well as illegal arms from the Dera chief’s followers.
“To recover the weapons, we stayed in the Dera for three-four days, and requested the followers to surrender the weapons within two days to avoid legal action,” Dinesh Kumar told India TV.
He further said that there are possibilities that more illegal weapons might be recovered from Ram Rahim’s followers, adding that the police will conduct more search operations and strict action will be taken against those found possessing such weapons.
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When asked about the revelation, Ram Rahim’s relative Bhupendra Singh said, “All followers inside the Dera posess such weapons. Even the female followers carry weapons. As police will conduct search operations in future, more and more weapons will be recovered.”
He claimed that around 14000-20000 ‘green force’ commandoes of Ram Rahim possess modern weapons and are given special training to operate these arms.
The revelation comes days after a CBI court in Haryana’s Panchkula on August 25 held the self-styled godman guilty for raping his two female followers in 2002. Following the conviction, his followers resorted to arson and violence in Panchkula, Sirsa and many other areas in Punjab and Haryana, resulting in 38 deaths and over 250 injured.
The court then sentenced the Dera chief to 20 years of imprisonment – 10 years in each of the two cases – on August 28, sending him to the Rohtak jail.
