Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a 20-year sentence for the rape of two women disciples, has been released once again from Rohtak’s Sunaria jail after being granted a 30-day parole.
Singh was released around 6:34 am under tight security and will remain at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa during the parole period, his counsel Jitender Khurana said. He is barred from holding physical gatherings with followers at the Dera but is permitted to address them virtually.
“He has got the parole today. It has been given by the competent authority of the state. He has been granted parole for 30 days,” Khurana said.
This marks the 16th time the self-styled godman has been released from prison since his conviction in 2017. The latest parole comes months after a similar release in January. Prior to that, he was out on a 40-day parole in August 2025, a 21-day furlough in April 2025, and a 30-day parole in January 2025 ahead of the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections.
He was also granted a 20-day parole on October 1, 2024, shortly before the Haryana Assembly polls, a 21-day furlough in August 2024, and a three-week furlough in February 2022, just ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections.
The repeated paroles granted to the Dera chief have drawn criticism from several Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee.
In March, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Singh in a 2002 journalist murder case, overturning a conviction handed down by a special CBI court.
In May 2024, the High Court also set aside another CBI court verdict and acquitted him and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect’s former manager, Ranjit Singh.