Chandigarh, Jan. 12 -- When the chief of the Sirsa based sect, Dera Sacha Sauda, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh stepped out of Rohtak's Sunaria jail on January 5 to avail his 40-day parole, he had spent 365 days - almost a year out of confinement during his 3,054 days (about eight years and four months) of sentence. This is the 15th occasion that he has been granted a temporary release since 2020.

The controversial head of the Sirsa-based sect, designated as convict 8647/C in prison records, is serving a 20-year jail term at Sunaria jail after he was convicted by a special CBI court in 2017 for raping two women disciples. He was subsequently convicted in two murder cases and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019 and 2021 but was acquitted in 2...