Haryana's Deputy AG sacked for accompanying Gurmeet Ram Rahim after verdict, carrying his luggage

The quantum of sentence against Ram Rahim in a rape case will be pronounced on August 28.

Chandigrah: Gurdass Singh Salwara, Deputy Advocate General of Haryana was sacked on Friday for accompanying Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim after the verdict and carrying his luggage.

The state government terminated the services of DAG Gurdas Salwara on the recommendations of Haryana's Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan.

"It is found that yesterday the DAG accompanied the baba," Mahajan said.

He said the DAG was a government servant and was not allowed to practice such things.

"The DAG has relations with the Dera," he claimed.

The action from the AG office came in the wake of a video clip purportedly showing the DAG in lawyer's robes carrying a suitcase of the Dera head after his conviction by a CBI court in Panchkula yesterday.

Meanwhile, in another fallout, the Haryana government today suspended the  Deputy Commissioner of Police (​DCP) of Panchkula ​Ashok Kumar over yesterday's violence that erupted following the rape conviction of Ram Rahim Singh.

The Haryana government alleged that a 'defective' order by the DCP allowed the crowd build-up in the district, as it came under flak over not doing anything to check the violence by the Dera followers.

"Yes, there was a lapse and that's why we have suspended DCP Panchkula," Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said, adding that the prohibitory order issued by the officer only barred carrying of weapons and not a gathering of five or more persons.

On the other hand, the Army along with the police and paramilitary forces has put up barricades at entry points of the Dera premises in Sirsa, where tens of thousands of Dera followers, including women and childen, stayed put despite an appeal by authorities to leave.

"There is no plan so far to enter the Dera headquarters here. We are focusing on maintenance of law and order presently," General Officer Commanding (GOC), 33 Armoured Division, Maj Gen Rajpal Punia told reporters in Sirsa, as the Army made appeals on loudspeakers to the Dera followers to leave the complex.

Sirsa sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) Paramjit Singh Chahal said the Army has not been given any order so far to enter the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters.

"There is still no order for the Army to enter the campus. They are only ensuring enforcement of curfew in the area," Chahal said, as per PTI.

In the national capital, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in the country, particularly Haryana, and was told that the situation in the state was under control, officials said.

Emerging from the meeting, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said that DG Haryana Police had assured the Central government that the situation was under control now.

"Haryana, Punjab and Delhi have not seen many incidents today. Panchkula and Sirsa had a situation yesterday but now the situation has normalised," he told reporters in Delhi.

CBI judge Jagdeep Singh had yesterday held Ram Rahim, 50, guilty of rape in a case that was registered on the basis of an anonymous written complaint in 2002 that he had sexually exploited two female followers.

On the basis of the report, a case was registered against him in December 2002 by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The quantum of sentence against Ram Rahim will be pronounced on August 28.

The punishment can be a jail term not less than seven years but may even extend to life imprisonment.

(With PTI inputs)