Dera Sacha Sauda Probe: Not impressed with status report, Punjab and Haryana HC tells SIT

“We still do not want to say there is lack of efforts and dedication on your (SIT’s) part. Have you gone through the status report yourself. We are not impressed,” the full bench said while questioning the state’s Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan, who said the reward money in the case of Aditya Insan has been doubled. Senior Advocate Anupam Gupta told the court that the increase in reward money was an expression of professional helplessness by the police.

In the latest report, the SIT also told the court that most agencies had expressed their inability to retrieve the data from the 65 hard disks recovered from the Dera premises and now CBI has been approached to examine them. The CBI has told the SIT that its experts will soon examine the case property either in Chandigarh or Delhi.

The probe has also revealed that the damaged hard disks were replaced with new hard disks in the CCTV Control room on August 26 at Dera headquarters, police said in the report. The bench was also informed that 15 accused were evading arrest in the case related to the conspiracy behind the violence. In the cases registered to probe the disappearance of 25 persons from the Dera Sacha Sauda’s Sirsa headquarters, police told the court that eight persons had been traced so far.

13 constructions inside Dera declared illegal

Three years after the Haryana government gave exemption on Change of Land Use (CLU) to the Dera Sacha Sauda, the state on Wednesday told the High Court that the exemption orders have been withdrawn. The withdrawal of the 11 exemption orders issued in 2015 and rejection of two pending applications has made the buildings like food godown, soap godown, farm house, boys hostel, cricket stadium, vegetable storage and soya godown, dharamshala, cinematography exhibition, industrial unit, two religious buildings and Shah Satnam Ji Institution unauthorised and illegal.

“Exemption under Section 22 (a) of the Act of 1963 granted earlier vide letter 31.12.2015 stands already withdrawn. Further, each case of the applicant for grant of change of land use permission for different purposes was examined individually on merits and the applications have been rejected on 28.03.2018 mainly on the ground that the applicants have raised unauthorized construction at site, as the sites fall within agriculture zone,” the submission read.

The bench has now asked the government to explain that how the new revenue estate Shah Satnampura was established, and said the court will specifically hear the case on the aspect of legality of the permissions related to the properties and land given to the Dera Sacha Sauda on May 15. Senior Advocate Anupam Gupta told the court that the government used to agree to whatever the Dera chief wanted and there was an unwritten instruction to allow them to do whatever they wanted. “Never before in the history has a village been created like this. How could agriculture land be used for non-agriculture purposes without prior permission of law,” he said.

Panel to manage Dera educational institutions

The bench as an ad hoc arrangement on Wednesday constituted a governing committee comprising the Deputy Commissioner of Sirsa district, the district education officer and two retired principals of schools or colleges to look after the functioning of the schools and colleges run by the Dera Sacha Sauda. The Dera has also been allowed to withdraw funds from its accounts for the salary of the teachers and other purposes related to the functioning of the schools, but it will have to be done with prior approval of the committee.

The bench also directed the Civil Surgeon, Sirsa to submit a comprehensive report of the Dera hospital and a proposal that how the facility can be run under his direct supervision. Meanwhile, the court Wednesday issued notice to the Dera Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on a petition seeking probe against him for proving the Dera followers to resort to violence in Panchkula and other cities last year in August.

‘Haryana Police not sharing information’

Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain appearing on behalf of the Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department, told the court that information and evidence sought by the agencies has not been supplied by the police to them. The bench ordered the Haryana government to ensure that information and evidence, including a hard disk, is supplied to the agencies to allow them to proceed with their investigation into the money laundering allegations against the Dera Sacha Sauda.
Jain also told the court that SP Sirsa has previously told the High Court that some currency was recovered at a naka but they have now told the ED that the money was recovered from residence of a person. He told the court that the information related to the recovery has not been provided and sought directions to the police for supplying the information.