Story of the ‘Baba of bling’
For a baba who demands so much attention, the personal details of Ram Rahim Singh are just a few.
He slides through the air dressed in pink robes in his promotional videos and in real life is known to ride powerful, souped up bikes to congregations, the persona as flashy as the vehicle itself.
But Friday was judgement day for Gurmeet Ram Rahim, head of the Dera Sacha Sauda, who was convicted in a rape case and left two states in a state of siege. Some of that tinsel aura may fade for the ‘baba of bling’, who is not the regular godman in saffron but a curious amalgam of reel and real defying easy description.
His Twitter profile describes him as “Spiritual Saint/Philanthropist/Versatile Singer/Allrounder Sportsperson/Film Director/Actor/Art Director/Music Director/ Writer/ Lyricist/Autobiographer/DOP.”
As curiosity grew about the man at the centre of the frenzied storm, Gurmeet, who drove to Panchkula in a large convoy of scores of vehicles, put out a tweet appealing for peace and saying he would go to court even though he had a backache.
He was born in Sri Gurusar Modia village in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district on August 15, 1967, to a landlord father. An only child, Gurmeet helped his father in the farm in his early years.
Gurmeet, it is said, was always spiritual. When he was seven, he was picked out by Shah Satnam Singh, then head of the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa, who anointed him Ram Rahim.
Sixteen years later, in 1990, Satnam Singh invited his disciples from all over the country for a grand satsang where 23-year-old Gurmeet Ram Rahim was chosen as his successor.
The Dera chief, who completed his high school, is married to Harjeet Kaur. They have two daughters, Charanpreet and Amanpreet, both of whom are married, and a son Jasmeet. He also adopted a girl.
Evidence that held Ram Rahim guilty.
The charge-sheet filed in the case reveals that given the influence wielded by Ram Rahim, it was not an easy investigation for the CBI.
Taking cognizance of an anonymous letter, alleging sexual exploitation of girls by the Dera Sucha Sauda chief, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had in May 2002 directed the District and Sessions Judge (Sirsa) to probe. However, the judge found that no one was willing to speak up. Not ruling out the possibility, the judge recommended a central agency investigation and therefore, on the High Court directive, the CBI registered the case on December 12, 2002.
In 2005, the agency managed to get a list of residents at the dera, revealing that 53 “Sadhvis” lived in the girls’ hostel and 80 in the Dera Sacha Sauda’s Sirsa ashram, while 24 others had left by then. The agency contacted 130 girls, who declined to cooperate owing to “an atmosphere of fear and physical, mental and spiritual control of Baba Gurmeet Singh”.
Of the 24 “Sadhvis” who had left the Dera between 1997 and 2002, 20 were traced. Most of them were married and did not want to come out with the truth, fearing adverse consequences.
The CBI examined 18 girls who had left the ashram, some of who said the Dera chief, its management and his followers were “very dangerous people” and they feared for their lives if they spoke up.
It was in May-July 2006 that the CBI managed to convince two victims to share complete information. They gave a detailed account of what was happening inside the Dera chief’s rooms and what transpired to them in August 1999. One of them recorded her statement under Section 164 of the Cr.PC in March 2007.
As described by the victims, there was an old and a new Dera complex in the ashram, where Ram Rahim had a separate accommodation called the Gufa (cave)”.
The Gufa in the old Dera had three gates, two of which opened towards the area where Satsang was held, whereas the third gate opened towards the girls’ hostel,” said the charge-sheet. The “Sadhvis” would guard the entry door to the cave between 8 p.m. to midnight and midnight to 4 a.m., taking turns.
Ram Rahim would allegedly summon the “Sadhvis” into his cave and then force himself upon them. Narrating her woes, one victim said one night, Ram Rahim called her to his cave.
“Baba told her to sit on the bed near to him. She hesitated and tried to sit on the floor, but Maharaj asked her to sit on the bed. Accordingly, she sat on the bed by the side of Maharaj, who asked about her life and experience in the Dera…thereafter, Gurmeet Singh started fondling her body,” alleged the charge-sheet. She was then raped.
The victim’s father told the CBI that her sister had also been sexually exploited by Ram Rahim. A relative of another victim also recorded his statement.
The former follower’s close relative was also a “Sadhvi” in the Dera, but she later left it. His father told the agency that after the anonymous complaint surfaced, his son had confirmed to him that the allegations were correct and that Ram Rahim and his close associates suspected that he was behind the letter. The former follower was later gunned down.
The adverse lie-detection tests of accused Avtar Singh, Inder Sain and Krishan Lal, whose names came up during the probe, showed “deceptions” in their statements indicating that Ram Rahim was sexually exploiting the “Sadhvis” in the “Gufa”, alleged the charge-sheet.
