Convicted for rape, Gurmeet Ram Rahim now faces charges for castrating 400 Dera followers

The Dera chief allegedly castrated the followers promising that it would lead to realisation of God

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PANCHKULA: Nearly six months after Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted of raping two sadhvis or female followers, a fresh charge has been filed by CBI against him. This time for forcibly castrating 400 followers.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed the case against Singh and two other Dera doctors – Pankaj Garg and M P Singh – in a special court in Panchkula.

The trio allegedly castrated the followers, promising that it would lead to realisation of God through the Dera chief, said officers from the agency.

The castration took place inside the Dera premises in Sirsa.

The probe was handed over to the agency by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the plea of a Dera follower.

"The petitioner had alleged that around 400 male devotees, including himself, belonging to Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan etc. Were castrated at that place (dera) under the false claim made by the said chief/head of religious organisation (Singh) that castration would lead to realisation of god through him and thus they were emasculated through surgeries done at the behest of the chief/head of said organisation, as alleged," CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said. 

Singh, one of the accused doctors, is currently in judicial custody for inciting violence and vandalism in Panchkula, hours Dera chief's conviction.

A CBI special court awarded a 20-year imprisonment to Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a 2002 rape case in August 2017. Following the conviction, Dera followers went on a rampage in Panchkula and Sirsa.

With PTI inputs