Chandigarh : Convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was granted parole once again on Tuesday and released from Haryana’s Sunaria jail for 30 days, officials said. This is the 16th time since 2020 that Ram Rahim has been granted parole or furlough. He was last released on a 40-day parole on January 5, 2026.
Ram Rahim has been lodged in Sunaria jail since 2017 after being convicted in the rape cases involving two women disciples. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being awarded two separate 10-year jail terms in the cases. The repeated parole and furlough granted to the Dera chief have often drawn criticism from opposition parties and social organisations, which have accused the Haryana government of extending undue favour to him.
In 2019, a Special CBI court found him guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment in the case. Along with Ram Rahim, three other convicts – Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal – were also found guilty in the murder case and were awarded life imprisonment. The court had also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 each.
A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal of the Punjab and Haryana high court delivered the verdict, acquitting Ram Rahim. Earlier, in 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief and four others in the 2002 murder case of a former Dera official. The Special CBI court of Panchkula had sentenced all the accused, including Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others, to life imprisonment in the murder case of Dera manager Ranjit Singh.
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