Haryana law officer sacked for carrying godman's bag (Lead, with Correction in 5th para)

The Haryana government on Saturday sacked Deputy Advocate General Gurdas Singh Salwara for carrying self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's bag after he was taken into police custody, an official said on Saturday.

Salwara, who is believed to be a relative of convicted Sacha Sauda Dera chief Ram Rahim Singh, was caught on camera while taking the bag from the godman in the court complex, a government official told IANS.

Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, where the CBI court proclaimed the sect chief guilty, bore the brunt of violence on Friday and resembled a war zone with scores of burnt vehicles and properties damaged or torched.

CBI Special Judge Jagdeep Singh held the Dera chief, who has lakhs of followers mainly in Punjab and Haryana, guilty of raping and sexually exploiting two female disciples in 2002.

The self-styled godman is used to a life of ultra luxury and ostentatious public appearances.

The Dera chief was shifted to a prison near Rohtak town (about 70 km from Delhi) and was lodged in a barrack in the jail. The quantum of punishment would be pronounced in the prison on Monday.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Haryana, led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, is facing flak from all quarters for going soft on the Dera chief, who had openly supported the BJP in the 2014 elections, and his unruly followers who staged the mayhem in Panchkula.

Sacking of the Deputy Advocate General is the second major head-roll since the violence.

Earlier, the government ordered the suspension of Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Ashok Kumar, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the 2007 batch.

--IANS

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