Honeypreet conspired to start arson: Police Cops zero in on her hideout trail, finally
PANCHKULA: Honeypreet, the adopted daughter of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was responsible for the violence that swept four states and killed 38 people in August after the controversial sect leader’s rape conviction, police claimed on Wednesday.
Haryana police say Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, headed a crucial meeting of top Dera functionaries at the Sirsa headquarters of the sect on August 17 when it was decided to send hordes of people to Haryana’s Panchkula, where a CBI court convicted Singh for raping two women disciples.
A careful plan to spread arson and violence in case of an adverse verdict was also laid out at the meeting, police claimed. Honeypreet, who is said to be in her 30s, also arranged for ₹1.25 crore that reached Panchkula through an aide and was used to fund the massive build-up of crowd that topped 200,000 the morning of the verdict on August 25.
Honeypreet has denied all charges and said she was never present at the meeting but police say they have proof against her, based on their interrogation of other top functionaries of the sect.
“We have clinching evidence to prove that she was main handler of cash in Dera and she sent the money through Dera chief’s personal assistant Rakesh Kumar,” said Panchkula police commissioner AS Chawla. “We have verified she headed the important meeting from testimonies of other arrested Dera members.”
Minutes after Singh was convicted on August 25, his hysterical supporters ran riot across Haryana and Punjab, clashing with security forces, and burning down buildings, vehicles and railway stations.
The violence singed even Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
Outnumbered in many places, policemen were seen fleeing from mobs that were armed with sticks and stones.
The violence has been widely blamed on the build-up of crowds in Panchkula ahead of the verdict. Honeypreet was arrested from a highway in Punjab last week after absconding for more than a month.
“No conspiracy meeting took place and no followers of the sect were involved in the violence, which was orchestrated by outsiders,” said Honeypreet’s counsel, SK Garg Nirwana who is also the Dera chief’s lawyer.
But police say they are sure Honeypreet is to blame, and are pointing at the testimonies of two arrested sect members – Dera’s Panchkula unit coordinator Chamkaur Singh and Rakesh Kumar.
Both Rakesh Kumar and Chamkaur Singh are are in judicial custody after their arrest last month.
The police have now summoned Dera chairperson Vipassana Insaan to cross check with her the details of the August 17 meeting.
But the worry is that Honeypreet’s laptop and mobile phone, which apparently contains a trove of information about the sect, haven’t been recovered. Her police remand lapses on Friday. PANCHKULA:POLICE said during the interrogation of Honeypreet they have found that she returned to the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa the day she was last seen outside the Rohtak’s Sunaria jail where the sect head was lodged after his conviction on August 25.
She travelled along with the dera chief in a chopper from Panchkula soon after he was convicted by a CBI court. After she went into hiding, there were reports that she was in Nepal and other places before she was finally arrested from the Zirakpur-patiala highway last week.
A police official said they have confirmed leads that she stayed inside the dera for at least two days and then left for dera chief’s ancestral Gurusar Modia village in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar district, after coming to know that Panchkula police had issued a lookout notice for in connection with the August 25 violence.
“She stayed around the village for over two weeks before the Panchkula police raided the place to arrest her,” said an official.
Then the police raided some places in Uttar Pradesh. She is believed to have gone to Jangirana village in Punjab’s Bathinda, where police conducted searches on Wednesday searching for her mobile phone and laptop, said the official. Her aide Sukhdeep Kaur, who was arrested along with her, took her to the village where the cousin of her husband stays.
Officials said that it was from Bathinda that she went to Delhi to meet her lawyer to file anticipatory bail in the Delhi high court but did not return to the village.
She then shifted to a house in Muktsar before getting arrested, said police. Panchkula police commissioner AS Chawla said Honeypreet denied living there but sources have verified her stay in Punjab and Rajathan.
Sources said after Wednesday’s search in Bathinda, the police left for Sri Ganganagar along with Honeypreet to dig out more details of her stay. She may be taken to Sirsa on Thursday.