Did Gurmeet Ram Rahim order castration of 400 devotees? CBI records his statement

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

The CBI has recorded the statement of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a case of alleged forcible castration of 400 of his followers. With a special court’s permission, agency officials had on Tuesday recorded Ram Rahim’s statement at a Rohtak prison, where he is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two sadhvis, CBI said. The CBI had registered the case against Ram Rahim and others in January 2015 on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The FIR was filed under various charges, including criminal conspiracy for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, for alleged castration of 400 devotees at the Sirsa-based Dera.

The court orders came on a writ petition filed by a follower in 2012 demanding a CBI inquiry and compensation for his castration at the Dera in 2000, a CBI spokesperson had said. Petitioner Hansraj Chauhan has alleged that around 400 devotees from states including Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan were castrated at the Dera headquarters after Singh claimed that the “castration would lead to realisation of God”, an official said.