Details of Dera Sacha Sauda assets being compiled

CHANDIGARH: The details of the assets of Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda are being compiled by Haryana authorities, the state's Advocate General said here today.

All details pertaining to assets, including the bank accounts and properties of the Dera, will be collected and submitted to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 27, Haryana Advocate General B R Mahajan said.

"The concerned departments are compiling the details about assets including bank accounts, movable and immovable properties of the Dera. All these details will then be submitted in a consolidated form to the High Court on the next date," Mahajan added.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had last month restrained the Dera from transferring, selling or even leasing out any of its properties while directing it to submit a list of assets owned by it.

The court commissioner -- retired District and Sessions Judge A K S Pawar, who was appointed by High Court to oversee the sanitisation process of sprawling Dera Sacha Sauda sect complex in Sirsa, would also submit his report to the court.

A three-day long mammoth sanitisation exercise which was conducted this month had led to the unearthing of two secret tunnels, an illegal firecracker factory and the sealing of an unlicensed skin bank.

An empty box of AK-47 cartridges, 84 cartons of fire crackers and chemicals, besides hundreds of pairs of shoes, designer clothing and caps, were also found.

An unregistered luxury car and computer hard disk drives, were also seized.

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula on August 25 for raping two disciples. Thirty five people died in incidents of violence after his conviction in Panchkula while six lives were lost in Sirsa.

The sect chief was handed down a 20-year jail term and is currently lodged in the Sunaria jail in Rohtak.