PANCHKULA: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered the Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate to conduct a probe into the movable and immovable properties of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim's Dera Sacha Sauda. Also, the Court Commissioner has been asked to submit a copy of the report to the Government of India. The high court ordered that “there will be two tribunals, one for Punjab and another for Haryana. They will examine if the claims made by people are genuine and if so then how much compensation are they entitled.”
Once the report is submitted, the high court will decide as to how much amount has to be paid by the Dera, or the losses suffered in the violence that followed Ram Rahim's conviction. The HC had earlier indicated that all those who suffered losses on August 26 would be compensated and the amount could be recovered from Dera's property. After a Panchkula resident filed a petition raising law and order concerns, it ordered that in a case where “people cause loss to the properties, it will be recorded in a video and the total loss suffered will be recovered from the sect.”
Details collected by the Haryana Government said that the sect owns over 1,093 acres across 18 districts of Haryana and the current value of the land is Rs 30,00,000 per acre. It has 48 branches of Dera Sacha Sauda in Australia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
Meanwhile, a CBI court has posted to October 27 the hearing in journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati killing case in which Ram Rahim Singh is allegedly involved. CBI counsel H P S Verma said the court heard arguments from the defence and prosecution and posted the hearing to October 27.
