Dera chief 'daughter' Honeypreet's bail plea dismissed

A Panchkula court on Thursday dismissed a plea for regular bail filed by Honeypreet in connection with violence that broke out after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda sect's head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in two rape cases.

Honeypreet had sought the bail from the court in adjoining Panchkula in Haryana, claiming that no evidence was found against her by Haryana Police even as she was behind bars for 245 days.

Her counsel told the court that others booked by the police on same charges as Honeypreet had been granted bail by different courts.

The Special Investigation Team (SIT), which investigated the violence in Panchkula in August 2017 following Gurmeet Ram Rahim's conviction, had slapped sedition charges against Honeypreet in September last year.

Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, has been lodged in the Central Jail, Ambala, 45 km from here, since October last year.

The police had claimed that she was the closest aide of the sect chief and knew many things about the sect's activities and its role in the violence in Panchkula and other places after the August 25 conviction of Ram Rahim.

Honeypreet remained on the run for 38 days after she was booked by the Haryana Police on charge of sedition. She was arrested on October 3, 2017 from the Zirakpur-Patiala Highway, about 15 km from Chandigarh.

The woman claims to be Ram Rahim's "adopted daughter" though her former husband Vishwas Gupta has alleged illicit relations between her and the sect chief.

Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of over Rs 30 lakh, following which violence erupted in Panchkula and Sirsa in Haryana, leaving 41 people dead and over 260 injured.

Isolated incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several places in Punjab.

--IANS

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