SIRSA DERA SEARCH ENDS AFTER 3 DAYS
DAY 3 Curfew still in force on roads leading to dera; no unauthorised entry allowed
Haryana authorities concluded on Sunday a massive search in the sprawling 800-acre headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda, a quasi-religious sect whose chief is serving 20 years in prison for raping two woman disciples. Curfew was clamped in Sirsa and mobile internet services were suspended when the search began on Friday. ››
SIRSA: With the search operation by security forces and the district administration at the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters concluding on Sunday under the supervision of court commissioner AKS Singh, the authorities are likely to resume mobile internet and train services in the district from Monday.
AKS Singh, appointed by the Punjab and Haryana high court, also visited the dera to oversee the operation, said Satish Mehra, state information and public relations deputy director.
The search operation started at 9am for the third consecutive day amid tight security. At about 1pm, officials announced that the teams “had completed 99% of the search operation”.
Sources in the police department said the dera, including the old headquarters, was divided into 10 sectors and search on every sector was completed by a team. Satish Mehra said, “Over the last three days, search teams have recovered a luxury car, a huge cache of crackers, plastic currency, computers, hard-disk besides finding a windowshaped tunnel from the dera head’s residence to female disciples’ hostel among other things.”
The entire sanitisation process was videographed. Curfew remains in force on the roads leading to the dera. No unauthorised people were allowed to enter the dera premises.
Life, however, remained normal in Sirsa town. The search was jointly carried out by more than 5,000 police and paramilitary personnel. Besides, some fire tenders, earthmoving machines and tractors were also pressed into service for the exercise. Some army companies were also put on standby for the mammoth operation that started on the directions of the high court.
HEALTHDEPTSEALS SKIN BANK AT HOSPITAL
Mehra said the Sirsa health department found that the skin bank at the MSG Hospital was being run illegally.
The team also found irregularities under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP).
Mehra said there are a total of four wood log cutters at the dera and two of them were sealed as there was no permission to run them.
THE PINK BUILDING
A police official, who was part of the search of the dera head’s residence, known as gufa (cave), said, “The wall of the gufa is more than 30-foot high and there is a green lawn which is about 10 feet high from the ground level. There are two ways of which one leads to the basement and another way goes to guest rooms on the ground floor. Expensive items were used to decorate the guest room, the official said.
LAND RECORDS OF 25 YEARS TO BE CHECKED
Mehra said the local administration has asked the revenue department to check the land records of the dera in the district if it forced the villagers to sell land at throwaway prices. Revenue records of last 25 years will be checked, he said.
‘NOT AUTHORISED TO SPEAK ON VIOLATIONS’
When contacted on the alleged irregularities under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, chief medical officer (CMO) Govind Gupta said, “We are not authorised to comment on the search operation. It is better you speak to deputy commissioner (DC) Prabhjot Singh on the matter.”