On 15th parole, Gurmeet Ram Rahim walks out of prison; to stay at Sirsa Dera

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, walked out of the Sunaria jail in Rohtak on Monday (January 5, 2026) after he was granted a 40-day parole — the 15th time since his conviction in 2017.

Gurmeet Singh will stay at his Sirsa-headquartered Dera during the 40-day period, said Dera spokesperson and advocate Jitender Khurana.

Gurmeet Singh and three others were also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

He last stepped out of prison on a 40-day parole in August 2025. He was granted a 21-day furlough in April 2025 and a 30-day parole in January 2025, ahead of the February 5 Delhi assembly polls.

Similarly, he walked out of prison on a 20-day parole on October 1, 2024, days before the October 5 Haryana assembly polls.

In August 2024, Gurmeet Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was also permitted a three-week furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab assembly polls.

Sikh organisations, such as the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, have in the past criticised the grant of relief to Gurmeet Singh.

In May 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect’s former manager, Ranjit Singh, citing “tainted and sketchy” investigations into the matter and overturning a special CBI court order which sentenced them to life imprisonment.

The CBI had held Gurmeet Singh guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused.

Gurmeet Singh remained at his Dera’s ashram in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh during many of the past 14 occasions when he came out of prison.

The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states. In Haryana, the Dera has a sizable number of followers in many districts, including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar.