‘Dera Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim has 15-20 guards inside Rohtak jail’
Man released from Rohtak jail where Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been incarcerated says fellow prisoners are angry over restrictions
Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda cult imprisoned last month for raping two women, moves in a posse of 15-20 security guards inside the Rohtak jail and fellow inmates are “so angry that someone might kill him”, a man who was released from the same facility has said.
Sonu Pandit, released on bail on Friday, said that Singh has been given security on the pretext that he faces threats from fellow inmates. “Ever since he has come here, problems of jail inmates have increased. All restrictions were imposed on us. This made inmates hate him,” he said.
Singh enjoyed mass following as the leader of the spiritual cult, so much so that thousands went on a rampage after his conviction to burn down millions in public and private property.
The BJP-run state government drew criticism for letting the violence go on before police opened fire to contain mobs, leading to the deaths of at least 30 people.
Pandit said that he wears white clothes at the prison and has not been assigned any work, suggesting that authorities may be giving the rape convict preferential treatment.
“Reports of him gardening at Rs 40 per day were false,” he said.
Earlier, another person who spent time at the Rohtak prison said the Dera Sacha Sauda chief kept screaming in his initial days in jail and did not eat anything.
“He would say things like ‘What is my fault, what have I done?’ He would cry in the night and request authorities to not lock him in the cell because he feels afraid,” said Dalit activist Swadesh Kirad, who had been in a cell next to Singh’s.
Authorities, meanwhile, enforced a no-fly zone over the prison.
Rohtak deputy commissioner Atul Kumar said on Friday the administration has also written to DG jails to request for mobile jammers inside the prison.
He said till further orders, section 144 of the CrPC will remain clamped in 5km radius of the jail premises. He said at present there were no plans to shift Singh to any other jail.
“The arrangements in Sunariya jail are better than Delhi’s Tihar. Constant efforts are being made to ensure other inmates do not suffer due to Ram Rahim,” he said.