Arrested follower had bought chair from dera for ₹5lakh
SANGRUR Duni Chand, a Sirsa dera follower, who was arrested Sunday last along with his accomplice, Ranjit Singh, for triggering violence in Punjab’s southern districts of Sangrur, Barnala, Patiala, Mansa and Bathinda on August 25, had purchased a chair from the dera for ₹5 lakh due to his deep faith in the dera and the ‘guru’.
Police officials told HT that besides the chair, he had also bought two pairs of shoes, which were once used by dera chief Ram Rahim Singh, at a very high price (exact price not known) and framed these shoes and displayed them at his home as a ‘prized’ possession. These items are still lying at his house at Sherpur town of the district.
Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Mandeep Singh Sidhu said that Duni Chand, who ran a utensils shop and was a ‘committed’ premi of the sect, had been a follower of the dera since 1994.
According to the police, Rakesh Kumar, who lived in the dera and was in touch with the dera head, had formed an eight-member ‘A’ team to spark off violence in Malwa in case of an adverse verdict against the dera chief by a CBI court in Panchkula on August 25. Chand was a member of that team.
Police had said Duni Chand of Sherpur town was arrested from the outskirts of Gujran village near Dirba on Sunday. He was a dera follower or ‘premi’ since 1994. A sum of ₹1.7 lakh, pepper sprays and dera literature was recovered from the car Chand was driving.
Meanwhile, the district police on Friday impounded a Porsche Cayenne GTS, which was lying abandoned at a ‘naam charcha ghar’ (congregation centre) in Sangrur on Friday. Police also recovered one more vehicle equipped with a projector to show the dera chief’s movies.
“The vehicles have been taken in possession and the dera people have been told to show documents of ownership and registration of these vehicles” said the SSP.