By IANS
Ambala (Haryana) : Thousands of followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect assembled here Thursday as their chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh reached a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court to face two charges of murder conspiracy and one of rape.
Tension built up as an estimated 125,000 sect followers laid virtual siege in this Haryana town, about 45 km from Chandigarh, forcing the closure of several schools and colleges. Defying Section 144 that bans the assembly of five or more people at one place, they gathered at the HUDA ground, just one km from the court campus.
The sect chief arrived at the court complex around 10 a.m. in a cavalcade of cars, including Haryana police and private security. He was sitting on the front seat of his bullet-proof Lexus luxury SUV, dressed in his traditional white robes and headgear.
Some of his supporters were able to reach the court premises despite the security arrangement.
The Dera chief is one of the accused in the charge sheet filed by the CBI in the court here in August this year. He has been charged of conspiracy in the murder of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh in July 2002 and Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chandra Chhatrapati in November 2001.
The Dera chief has also been accused of raping a “sadhvi” (female follower) inside his sprawling and fortified sect campus near Sirsa town in Haryana.
The interim bail granted to him by the Punjab and Haryana high court ends Thursday and the sect chief will have to seek regular bail from the court here.
Police swarmed the town as did followers of Ram Rahim Singh with the Haryana government leaving nothing to chance in case the court order goes against the sect chief and he faces arrest.
Haryana Director General Of Police Ranjiv Dalal said police had been deployed in adequate numbers to keep the situation under control.
“We have requisitioned police personnel and officers from all over the state to prepare for this situation. I hope everything will remain peaceful.”
The sect chief enjoys Z-plus security provided to him by the Haryana police after he was involved in a controversy with Sikhs for portraying himself like 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh.
The sect chief made a tour of most parts of Haryana, where he has many followers, in the week preceding his court appearance in an apparent attempt to get the maximum number of followers to this city for a show of strength.