Ram Rahim will be sentenced on Monday within Rohtak jail

Not taking any chances after Friday’s violence, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday ordered the Haryana government to make necessary arrangements for the special CBI judge, Jagdeep Singh, to be flown to the Rohtak district jail, where rapeconvict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is lodged, for hearing on the quantum of sentence against the Dera Sacha Sauda chief on Monday.

Jagdeep Singh, while holding the Sirsa-based Dera chief guilty of raping two female followers more than 15 years ago, had on Friday said the quantum of sentence would be pronounced on Monday, August 28.

After the conviction in Panchkula, the self-styled godman was flown to Rohtak as his followers went on the rampage in the town and many others parts of Haryana and Punjab.

On Saturday, the high court notified the district jail in Sunaria in Rohtak “as a place of sitting of CBI court of Additional District and Sessions Judge, Panchkula, for the purpose of hearing on the quantum of sentence and pronouncement of the sentence in respect of the case titled as CBI versus Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh”.

“For the above purpose suitable accommodation for court room, etc, in the district jail Rohtak in Sunaria shall be provided,” a high court notification said.

Meanwhile, in the wake of reports that rape Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had been extended VIP treatment, the Haryana government denied any such favours to the disgraced self-styled godman.

Convicted for rape and criminal intimidation, the Dera chief, according to police sources, was provided an air-conditioned room in the Rohtak District Jail, “From arranging a special helicopter to providing an air-conditioned room and helping in using facilities meant for police officers, the (Manohar Lal) Khattar government is extending all help to the Dera chief even after his conviction in such a serious crime as rape. This is appalling,” a police source, who saw some of these things happen on Friday and Saturday, said.