Even before he was held guilty by the Panchkula court, rape convict godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim had prepared an escape plan well in advance, a senior police officer has claimed.
Inspector General of Police KK Rao told reporters that Ram Rahim’s plan involved sending a signal to his followers who had gathered outside the court complex, to begin violence. He said the after he was pronounced guilty, the rape convict sect head requested for a ‘red bag’ that he had brought along from Sirsa, which he said was a message to his followers to begin violence.
"The Dera chief demanded the bag, saying his clothes were in it. It was actually a signal for his men to spread the news of his conviction among supporters so that they could resort to causing a disturbance," Mr Rao said.
The police official told reporters that soon after the red bag was brought out from Ram Rahim’s car, his supporters turned violent and the security forces resorted to firing tear gas on the rampaging mob of his supporters.
The red suitcase Gurmeet Ram Raheem asked for after the court verdict. Source: Twitter
"It was then that we understood that there was some meaning behind the signal," the police official claimed.
The suspicion of an escape plan also got stronger when Ram Rahim and his adopted daughter Honeypreet who had accompanied the godman to the court, kept standing in the court complex corridor for long after the guilty verdict.
"They were trying to gain time before sitting in the vehicle so that their men could spread the message that he was moving from the court. They were told that you cannot stand here,” Mr. Rao said.
Ram Rahim’s personal security guards also allegedly tried to free him from the police custody while being taken to Rohtak jail. One of the commandoes in his personal security detail pointed a gun at a Haryana police officer and asked Honeypreet for permission to shoot, reports.
“The guard had pointed a gun towards senior officials of the Haryana Police, who were on duty in the District Courts complex on August 25,” the newspaper quoted a police officer as saying.
Mr Rao said there was a scuffle between the policemen and the dera chief’s personal guards.
“When we were making him sit in the vehicle, commandos, deployed with him for several years, gheraoed the Dera chief,” Mr. Rao claimed. He said the policemen had to scuffle with the dera chief’s personal security guards to thwart his escape plan.
“We took good care that no firing takes place, Mr. Rao said adding that even the commandoes assigned to protect the godman were also armed.”
He said as the godman was being whisked away in a police car, the commandos in his personal security detail clung to the vehicle in order to free him.
It was also reported that Ram Rahim’s security guards slapped a senior police officer during the melee.
The seven security guards of the dera chief, five of whom are Haryana police employees, were arrested and slapped with charges of sedition.
The controversial godman was sentenced to two ten-year jail terms on Monday for raping two of his women followers. 30 people lost their lives in the violence that followed the guilty verdict on Friday in Panchkula.
