Secret tunnels, explosives factory found in Dera premises

The search operation of the Dera premises continued on Saturday with hundreds of security personnel and local administration involved in the exercise. Curfew continued in the area around the sprawling Dera campus. “The search had revealed an illegal factory inside the premises. A case has been registered against the Dera,” Harya government spokesman Satish Mishra said in Sirsa.

The Dera magement, in its defence, told officials that the explosives material was used to make fire crackers. Mishra said that two secret tunnels were also found inside the Dera campus.

One of the tunnels linked the ‘gufa’ (cave), a huge pink coloured building that was the ultra-luxury home of the rape-convicted sect chief, to the hostel meant for female disciples (sadhvis). He said the matter was being investigated. The second tunnel led to a mud path which looked like a secret escape route opening 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 the disgraced sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who was convicted on two counts of rape of female disciples on August 25. 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 media was kept at some distance from the Dera premises. Senior district administration and police officers, along with paramilitary forces and Harya Police, were involved in the videographed operation around the sprawling 700-acre campus. Duty magistrates were appointed for various zones of the Dera.