New Delhi, India - Religious cult Dera Sacha Sauda, which has triggered sectarian strife across Punjab after an advertisement reportedly featured its chief Baba Gurmeet Singh as Guru Gobind Singh, is set to face the CBI's heat on May 22 when the agency will argue before an Ambala court that the sect's former office-bearers were involved in the murder of their fellow member when he tried to expose their misdeeds.
The matter relates to the murder of one of the 10 members of the cult's Sirsa-based management committee, Ranjit Singh, who had spoken against Gurmeet Singh.
The CBI has filed a chargesheet against five disciples of the Baba, including Avtar Singh, the grandson of the previous head of Dera. Besides the Ranjit Singh murder case, the Dera is under the CBI's scanner for two more cases, relating to the killing of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chatterpati and another pertaining to alleged sexual exploitation of sadhvis (women followers) by the Baba himself.
Chatterpati had extensively written about the alleged illegal activities of the Dera which has 36 branches in 11 states, including Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Dera was also in focus recently for its reach when it reportedly extended support to the Congress in the Punjab Assembly polls.
All three cases were handed over to CBI under the Punjab and Haryana High Court's orders in 2002. Though the last two cases are still being investigated, the agency found that the fear of being ostracised and possible threats from cult followers had kept the sadhvis and their family members from making any kind of disclosure against the Baba.
Locals in Sirsa felt so threatened that the CBI had to issue a public notice in 2005 seeking information about Dera and its head with an assurance that their identities would be kept secret.
"Although we have gathered a lot of information about the functioning of the Dera, we are still looking for some concrete evidence before filing chargesheets in the two pending cases," said an official.
The murky functioning of the Dera was revealed in May 2002 when an anonymous letter alleging sexual exploitation by the Baba came to light. The letter, written by a woman disciple of Gurmeet Singh, was addressed to the then PM and its copies were marked to the Union home minister, CBI, Haryana police chief and the National Human Rights Commission.
The letter, in Hindi, carried graphic details of the alleged exploitation of sadhvis. According to the CBI's FIR (No. RC-5(S)/2002/SIU-XV/CHG), a copy of which is with TOI, the Punjab and Haryana HC, after considering the inquiry report of the Sirsa sessions judge, had referred the matter to the investigating agency.
The FIR (dated December 12, 2002) has named 'Maharaj' Gurmeet Singh, the cult head, as an accused. The case was registered against him and other unknown persons under Sections 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code.