<p>Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who was convicted in a rape case today, has been receiving favours from the Manohar Lal Khattar government of Haryana earlier.<br /><br />Just three months back, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced tax exemption for six months on movie ‘Jattu Engineer’ featuring Ram Rahim Singh.<br /><br />Khattar had announced the tax exemption at an event in Karnal in May.<br /><br />Earlier, the chief minister had started a cleanliness drive along with the dera chief.<br /><br />Also, the state's Health and Sports minister Anil Vij had donated Rs 50 lakh from his discretionary fund to the sect for promoting rural games.<br /><br />At a sporting event organised by the dera at Sirsa in the past, Vij had said, "Dera Sacha Sauda is already promoting sports for a long time and now BJP government will promote all sports related activities by making 20 Olympic Nurseries."<br /><br />Vij had added, "He (Ram Rahim) is encouraging the games. Since the schools are also encouraging games here, I would like to donate Rs 50 lakh from my discretionary fund."<br /><br />Notably, all the games played at the dera academy have been created by Gurmeet Ram Rahim himself and are not played at national or international level.<br /><br />Another Haryana Minister Manish Grover too had announced Rs 11 lakh to the dera sports village.<br /><br />Ahead of assembly polls in 2014 in Haryana, the dera chief had extended support to the BJP.<br /><br />After the special CBI court in Panchkula convicted the dera head in a 2002 rape case, Khattar appealed to the people of the state to maintain peace and harmony and not to allow themselves to be misled by rumours.<br /><br />In a statement issued here today, the chief minister said some anti-social elements mixed with the followers of the dera chief and resorted to violence and disrupted the peace. <br /><br />The court verdict against dera head triggered violence by his followers leaving 30 dead and over 200 injured. <br /><br /></p>
<p>Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who was convicted in a rape case today, has been receiving favours from the Manohar Lal Khattar government of Haryana earlier.<br /><br />Just three months back, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced tax exemption for six months on movie ‘Jattu Engineer’ featuring Ram Rahim Singh.<br /><br />Khattar had announced the tax exemption at an event in Karnal in May.<br /><br />Earlier, the chief minister had started a cleanliness drive along with the dera chief.<br /><br />Also, the state's Health and Sports minister Anil Vij had donated Rs 50 lakh from his discretionary fund to the sect for promoting rural games.<br /><br />At a sporting event organised by the dera at Sirsa in the past, Vij had said, "Dera Sacha Sauda is already promoting sports for a long time and now BJP government will promote all sports related activities by making 20 Olympic Nurseries."<br /><br />Vij had added, "He (Ram Rahim) is encouraging the games. Since the schools are also encouraging games here, I would like to donate Rs 50 lakh from my discretionary fund."<br /><br />Notably, all the games played at the dera academy have been created by Gurmeet Ram Rahim himself and are not played at national or international level.<br /><br />Another Haryana Minister Manish Grover too had announced Rs 11 lakh to the dera sports village.<br /><br />Ahead of assembly polls in 2014 in Haryana, the dera chief had extended support to the BJP.<br /><br />After the special CBI court in Panchkula convicted the dera head in a 2002 rape case, Khattar appealed to the people of the state to maintain peace and harmony and not to allow themselves to be misled by rumours.<br /><br />In a statement issued here today, the chief minister said some anti-social elements mixed with the followers of the dera chief and resorted to violence and disrupted the peace. <br /><br />The court verdict against dera head triggered violence by his followers leaving 30 dead and over 200 injured. <br /><br /></p>