Honeypreet arrested by Haryana Police from Punjab

Eluding arrest for over a month, Honeypreet, the “adopted” daughter of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, was arrested from the outskirts of capital city Chandigarh this afternoon. Honeypreet had been on the run for the last nearly 39-days.

She was booked on charges of sedition by the police for allegedly orchestrating the widespread violence that broke out soon after the conviction of the sect chief on August 25. As many as 40 lives were lost in police firing in Panchkula and Sirsa, the epicentres of the violence. Her custodial interrogation by a team of senior officers in Panchkula was underway till filing of the story.

The Panchkula police, it appears, got the vital catch on a platter. Honeypreet evaded arrest all this while, then managed to give her side of the story on two television channels earlier today. The grapevine has it that the Punjab police eventually tipped off the Panchkula police about her whereabouts on the Zirakhpur-Patiala highways, just about 6-km from Panchkula. The special investigating team reached the spot where Honeypreet, along with another woman, were rounded up and later arrested. The duo was in an Innova car at around 3 pm when they were apprehended by the cops. Panchkula police commissioner AS Chawla said Honeypreet has been taken into custody for interrogation and would be produced before the Court on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in her interview with a couple of TV channels, Honeypreet claimed that her relationship with her “father” and sect head is pious. She refuted accusations that Gurmeet Ram Rahim sexually exploited women inside the Dera. Honeypreet was on top of the list of 42 most wanted persons released by the Panchkula police. Her arrest will now bring to light her hideouts all this while and the persons who shielded her. The enigma surrounding the sect is also likely to be further unravelled.

Honeypreet said she had not fled to Nepal as was being publicized in the media. She said, she had dipped into depression after the conviction and could not comprehend what to do. She maintained that her “father” and jailed sect chief, sentenced to 20-years in jail for rape of two women, was innocent and the truth will prevail. “I cannot believe that I am being dubbed a traitor," she told a news channel.