Found: A tunnel into ladies’ hostel

ONE OF THE TUNNELS LINKED THE ‘GUFA’, ULTRALUXURY HOME OF THE SECT CHIEF, TO THE HOSTEL MEANT FOR FEMALE DISCIPLES

Two secret tunnels and an illegal explosives factory were found inside the premises of the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters near Haryana’s Sirsa town on Saturday on Day 2 of the search by security forces and authorities.

“The search had revealed an illegal factory inside the premises. A case has been registered against the Dera,” Haryana government spokesman Satish Mishra said in Sirsa. The Dera management told officials that the explosives material was used to make fire crackers.

Mishra said that two secret tunnels were also found on the Dera campus. One linked the ‘gufa’ (cave), a huge pink building that was the ultra-luxury home of the rape-convicted sect chief, to the hostel meant for female disciples (sadhvis).

The second tunnel led to a mud path and appeared to be secret escape route that opened out about five km away.

According to sources, the search teams had also found hundreds of pairs of shoes, designer clothes and colourful caps of Gurmeet Ram Rahim.

The search operation to sanitise the sect premises started on Friday amid tight security with a few computers, a luxury SUV and currency notes being seized.

The search was being conducted under the supervision of court commissioner AK Pawar appointed by Punjab and Haryana high court.