Illegal explosives factory found inside Dera Sacha Sauda premises; fire cracker, luxury car, old notes seized

The Haryana Police on Saturday found illegal explosives factory inside the premises of Dera Sacha Sauda, as the sanitisation operation continued on the second day in Sirsa.

"Illegal explosives factory inside Dera Sacha Sauda premises is sealed. Explosives and fire cracker have been seized," said Haryana's Information and Public Relations Department Deputy Director, Satish Mehra.

A huge search operation, involving hordes of police, paramilitary and civil administration personnel, was launched on Friday at the headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda spread over 800 acres here, two weeks after a CBI court convicted its head of rape and sentenced him to 20 years in jail in two rape cases.

An unregistered luxury car and some banned currency notes were also seized from the Dera of rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh during a sanitisation exercise which also involved forensic examination of his so- called cave where he allegedly used to sexually exploit women.

The Dera premises houses educational institutions, markets, a hospital, a stadium, recreational areas and houses.

To prevent any untoward incident, curfew was imposed on the roads leading to the Dera and mobile internet services in Sirsa district have been suspended till September 10 for the operation, which is still underway.

"Some rooms have been sealed, computer hard disk drives, unregistered Lexus car, an OB van, Rs 7,000 of demonetised currency, Rs 12,000 cash and some pharma medicines without labels or a brand name, a walkie-talkie set are among other items which have been seized," Mehra told reporters.

The Haryana government had filed a plea seeking permission for the sanitisation process under judicial supervision, after the conviction of the sect chief, now in a Rohtak jail.

The HC appointed a court commissioner for the purpose earlier this week. A report of the entire exercise will be submitted to the high court by the court commissioner, with a copy to the state government.