Dera Chief Ram Rahim Walks Out Of Jail On 30 Days Parole.

Sirsa, Haryana; May 2026: Today (26th May 2026) Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a 20 years jail term for raping two women disciples, walked out of Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak after being granted a 30 days parole, which turns out to be his 16th such release from prison since his 2017 conviction.

The controversial self-styled godman left the jail premises early today morning amid tight security arrangements and will stay at the Sirsa headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda during the parole period, according to Dera spokesperson and advocate Jitender Khurana.

The latest parole comes just months after Ram Rahim was granted temporary release in January this year. Over the past two years, the Dera chief has repeatedly secured paroles and furloughs, often around election periods. He was granted a 40-day parole in August 2025, a 21-day furlough in April 2025 and another 30-day parole in January 2025 ahead of the Delhi assembly elections held on 05th February.

Earlier, he was released on a 20 days parole on 1 October 2024, days before the Haryana assembly elections, and on a 21 days furlough in August 2024. In February 2022, he was granted a 03 week furlough shortly before the Punjab assembly polls.

The repeated paroles granted to Ram Rahim have triggered criticism from Sikh organisations and opposition groups, with bodies such as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) questioning the timing and frequency of his temporary releases.

Ram Rahim was convicted in 2017 by a special CBI court in Panchkula for raping 02 women followers and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

However, in recent years, he has secured major legal relief in other criminal cases. In March this year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Ram Rahim in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, 07 years after a special CBI court had sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Earlier, in May 2024, the high court also overturned another special CBI court verdict and acquitted Ram Rahim and 04 others in the 2002 murder case of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh.

The Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda continues to wield significant influence across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and neighbouring states, with a strong support base in districts such as Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Kaithal and Kurukshetra.

Earlier in March this year, The Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, holding that the prosecution failed to establish his involvement beyond a reasonable doubt. The court had also raised serious concerns over the investigation conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case.

A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal delivered the verdict on March 07, setting aside the life sentence awarded to Ram Rahim by a special CBI court in 2019. However, the High Court upheld the conviction of 03 other accused in the case. The court said the prosecution was unable to prove the conspiracy allegations against Ram Rahim. “In the considered opinion of this court, the prosecution was not able to prove its case against A1 (Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh) beyond a reasonable doubt, whereas it was able to do so in the case of A2 to A4″, the bench said.

“It is a settled principle of law that where two possibilities, one of commission of crime and the other of innocence, are reasonably possible, the accused is entitled to the benefit of doubt”, the court added.

A major reason behind the acquittal was the court’s rejection of the testimony of the prosecution’s key witness, Khatta Singh, who was presented as the sole witness to the alleged conspiracy.

According to the High Court, the witness’s statements were inconsistent and unreliable. The bench observed that Khatta Singh “chose to remain silent for several years and then kept on tossing from one side to the other like a ping pong ball”, casting serious doubt on the credibility of his testimony.

The court also rejected his claim that he had stayed silent earlier due to threats from Ram Rahim. It noted that in earlier statements recorded in connection with another murder case involving former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, the witness did not implicate Ram Rahim in the journalist’s killing.

The High Court also slammed the CBI’s handling of the investigation and suggested that the agency may have pressured the witness to make statements implicating Ram Rahim. “This court will not hesitate in holding that it appears that he was coerced by CBI into making a statement as CBI was under pressure to conclude the investigation”, the bench observed.

The court noted that Ram Rahim’s name did not surface in the investigation for several years after the crime, and it was only after Khatta Singh’s statement was recorded in 2007, nearly five years after the incident, that he was named as an accused. Another key factor cited by the court was the prosecution’s failure to examine a crucial witness, the police officer who had recorded the injured journalist’s statement at PGIMS Rohtak after the shooting.

The court described the omission as “extremely strange”, noting that the officer’s testimony could have been critical to establishing the circumstances of the crime.

The High Court also observed that Ram Rahim, as a prominent religious leader with a large following, had both supporters and critics, and that the trial court should have examined whether the crime might have been carried out independently by overzealous followers rather than on his instructions. The bench noted that followers of religious sects sometimes cross legal boundaries in the name of faith and that this possibility had not been adequately examined during the trial.

Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, editor of the Sirsa-based newspaper “Poora Sach”, was shot outside his residence in October 2002 after publishing an anonymous letter alleging sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera headquarters.

Team Maverick.