Chandigarh [India], July 5 (ANI): Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday dismissed the writ petition that was filed by some people alleging the replacement of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is undergoing sentence for rape and murder cases in a Rohtak jail, with a dummy person, informed Advocate Jatinder.

Justice Karamjit Singh of the HC passed these orders while dismissing a plea and said that the plea lacked merit.

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The plea was filed by Ashok Kumar and 18 other petitioners claiming themselves to be staunch supporters of the controversial preacher.

The petitioners, in this case, said they had sought directions to "verify the authenticity" of the Dera chief as the state authorities in collusion with Dera functionaries including Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet and Prithviraj Nain have replaced a dummy person with the Dera chief.

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The plea further stated that such a dummy person is hurting the religious sentiments of the followers.

Rape convict Ram Rahim is currently out on parole.

Earlier on June 17, Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh who is serving a jail term after being convicted in rape and murder cases was granted parole for a month.

Singh has been incarcerated, since 2017, in Haryana's Sunaria jail where he is serving 20 year-term for raping two women disciples at his ashram's headquarters in Sirsa.

Earlier in February, the Dera chief was granted three weeks' furlough.

While parole means the release of a prisoner either temporarily for a special purpose or completely before the expiry of a sentence, on the promise of good behaviour, a furlough is a short-term temporary release of convicts from jail.

He was convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in August 2017 for raping two women followers.

While, on October 8, 2021, the court convicted Rahim and four others in connection with former Dera manager Ranjit Singh's murder case.

Ranjit Singh was murdered in 2002 on the premises of Dera Sacha Sauda. (ANI)

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