Warrant officer fails to find Sadhvi in Dera

SIRSA: A Warrant Officer appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court today failed to find a woman disciple, whose mother had alleged that her daughter was being forcibly kept in the Dera Sacha Sauda here.

Armed with the directions of the court, Warrant Officer Ramandeep Singh arrived at the Dera here last night but was forced to sit in the administrative block of the Dera for around 90 minutes.

Singh said that they were then allowed to go to places where the disciples were lodged. But Sukhjit Kaur, a Bhatinda resident, who accompanied the Warrant Officer, failed to find her daughter Suminder Kaur.

The Warrant Officer said he would soon submit his report on the disciple to the High Court where the matter is scheduled to come up on October five.

Singh said that one Abhijeet, who introduced himself as Dera Vice President, told the team that Suminder Kaur had left the Dera recently and gone to the residence of her maternal aunt.

He said Dera officials declined to disclose the exact number of Sadhvi's residing in the sprawling premises, but officials put the figure at between 150 and 300.

Ramandeep was accompanied by Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Headquarter Partap Singh and Station House Officer (SHO) of Sadar Police Station Ram Singh Bishnoi.

Punjab and Haryana High Court had appointed the Warrant Officer to visit the Dera here after Sukhjit Kaur in a petition alleged that her daughter was being forcibly kept in the Dera.

Sukhjit Kaur alleged that Suminder Kaur was not being allowed to return home despite the death of her father on September 16.

She alleged that when her family had gone to the Dera recently to bring her daughter, the Dera officials told them to first bring their relative Khatta Singh, who is the prime witness against Dera head Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh in a murder case.

The Dera has been in the news since May this year when its chief was charged with an alleged blasphemous act after he appeared in a dress similar to that of the tenth Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.

The CBI had recently filed a chargesheet against Gurmit Ram and others in a Ambala court in connection with three cases relating to the alleged rape of a Sadhvi and two murders of local journalist Ram Chander Chatterpatti and a former Dera Manager Ranjit Singh.