CHANDIGARH: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been granted a 30-day parole, marking his 16th furlough since his conviction in August 2017.Visuals of him leaving from Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail have also surfaced.In March, this year, a Haryana court had acquitted Ram Rahim Singh of the charge of involvement in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.Ram Chander Chhatrapati was shot outside his house in October 2002 after his newspaper ‘Poora Sach’ published an anonymous letter narrating sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.This latest parole adds to a long series of parole granted to the self-styled godman over the past eight years, during which he has spent over 400 days out of prison.
Ram Rahim past parole periods
In previous instances, Ram Rahim has been granted multiple paroles and furloughs, including in 2025 when he was released on several occasions for extended periods. Authorities have repeatedly allowed such releases under parole conditions, even as he remains convicted in multiple serious criminal cases.He was first convicted in 2017 by a Panchkula court in sexual assault cases involving two of his followers, an event that had triggered widespread violence across Haryana and Punjab. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2019, and another life term in the Ranjit Singh murder case, though he was later acquitted in that matter by the Punjab and Haryana high court.
