New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been provided Z-plus security cover during his 21-day release on furlough from a Haryana jail, officials said on Tuesday.
He has been given the high security cover due to threat to his life from 'pro-Khalistan' extremists, officials added.
Rahim is on 21-day furlough from Sunaria jail and is camping in Gurugram. He will be getting 10 NSG security personnel for mobile security and eight security personnel for his residence security. The Haryana government's recommendation to grant the top layer security cover to the convicted sect leader comes following his request.
The Dera chief was released on furlough on February 7 after the Haryana government's conclusion that he does not fall in the category of hardcore prisoners.
Incidently, the 21-day furlough had come just days ahead of the Assembly polls in Punjab that was held on February 20 and he has a large number of followers, particularly in Bathinda, Sangrur, Patiala and Muktsar.
The sect chief has been currently serving life imprisonment for the murder of former journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati and the rape of two Dera disciples. He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in 2017.
Soon after his release from the Sunaria jail in Rohtak, he was brought to his ashram in Gurugram. The Haryana police has deployed a heavy security in and near his ashram.
Welcoming the Centre's decision to conduct a survey of closed down temples in Jammu and Kashmir, a Kashmiri migrant pandit organisation on Tuesday advocated for a fresh temple bill for the protection of the community's religious places in the Valley.
With an angry Rahul Gandhi sulking and his mother Sonia Gandhi returning to take charge of the Congress, the syndicate of her coterie is back in the party and asserting its clout.
First-time parliamentarians Mimi Chakraborty and Nusrat Jahan were seen doing a classical dance in a video, to pay tribute to Goddess Durga ahead of the festival of Durga Puja.
While some of the young leaders are making statements in violation of the party line, even praising the Narendra Modi government, some others are quitting the party.
