CHANDIGARH/ INDIA:Indias Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered a case against self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, in connection with the alleged forced castration of 400 of his followers.
Political parties in Indias fertile region of Punjab and Haryana the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and religious group comprising the Sirsa Sikhs have demanded that the CBI immediately arrest the controversial god man in the mass castration case.
They said that the Dera chief should be treated like a common person during the course of the investigation.
On January 7, CBI registered a case of cheating, causing grievous injury, intimidation and criminal conspiracy under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the Dera chief and others at the agency’s special crime branch in New Delhi.
A petition was filed in the high court in 2012 by a follower of Dera demanding a CBI inquiry and compensation for his alleged castration in 2000, CBI spokesperson Kanchan Prasad said.
Prasad was quoted by media, that petitioner Hansraj Chauhan has alleged that around 400 male devotees, including himself, belonging to Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, were castrated at the Dera ashram after its Ram Rahim falsely claimed that the castration would lead to realisation of God through him.
Prasad also said the CBI was not keen to question to the Dera chief in Sirsa. No arrest will be made, if the Dera chief co-operates. But any resistance will urge us to use force.
The court had earlier ordered a medical examination of the petitioner from the government multi-speciality hospital, which found that he had indeed been castrated.
Ram Rahim is also facing trial in connection with cases of murders of a journalist and a Dera follower and sexual exploitation of his women disciples. — AC
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