A million-dollar question: Who’ll be sect head’s heir
SIRSA: In the wake of the conviction of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Saud a chief G ur meet Ram Ra him by a CBI court, the moot question has arisen — who will head the dera empire worth billions in his absence?
The sect’s Sirsa headquarters has a sprawling 800-acre campus that houses a multi-specialty hospital and a stadium among other things.
Also, the dera has immovable assets in Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi besides Ha ryan a and undisclosed bank accounts. Not only this, the dera chief also owns an array of luxury vehicles.
As the dera chief never announced his heir apparent, all eyes are on Guru Brahmachari Vipasana, a 35-year-old woman who is second-in-command in the sect’s hierarchy and the sole authority to take call on things on his behalf.
Vi pas ana, a graduate from the girls college run by the dera, controls the 250-member manage- ment of whom nearly 150 are women.
She takes decisions on important things such as congregations or social-service projects dedicated to the destitute and poor devotees or blood donation camps for the army.
It, however, was not clear if she accompanied the dera chief to Panchkula on Friday.
A POSSIBLE RIVAL
Besides Vipasana, Honeypreet (35), also designated 'guru brah-machari', became the dera chief's confidant seven years ago. She has acted in all his films as his lead lady.
Sources in the dera said Honeypreet could be a strong rival to Vipasana to run the show, if the dera chief gives his consent.
RULESBARFAMILY MEMBERS
Gurmeet Ram Rahim has a son Jasmeet Insan and two daughters — Charanpreet Insan and Amarpreet Insan. As per the dera norms, the heir of the present chief could not be from his family or clan. This makes all the more significant for Guru Brahmachari Vipasana, the present ‘nambardar’ of the dera, to run the show after Gurmeet Ram Rahim.