Jail swamped with letters for convict Dera chief

The high-security jail in Haryana’s Rohtak would ordinarily receive small volumes of postal letters and parcels each day for convicts and undertrials lodged inside.

However, jail authorities and the postal department are facing an uncanny situation these days as they are swamped with several thousands of letters and parcels addressed to one person, Dera Sacha Sauda Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is convicted on charges of rape.

Ram Rahim celebrates his birthday on August 15 and this year Raksha Bandhan is also on the same day. Devotees owing allegiance to the jailed sect chief are posting over a thousand letters a day for the past few days ahead of his birthday and Raksha Bandhan.

Postal authorities have been working overtime to deliver letters to Ram Rahim who is lodged in Sunaria jail. Normally, a postman would deliver postal letters etc on a motorcycle. But, due to the increase in the volume of letters and parcels in the name of the sect chief, an auto-rickshaw is being used to deliver the stuff.

Followers of the beleaguered sect in Sirsa in Haryana are planning a huge congregation on Ram Rahim's birthday.

The sect chief is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples.

He has also been convicted for life in the case of the murder of a journalist. His life imprisonment will start after his 20-year jail term for rape will end. Effectively, the sect chief is likely to spend the rest of his life in jail, unless he gets some respite from the high appellate courts.

Last week, sect chief’s plea for grant of three-week parole to attend to his ailing mother was rejected. A panel of doctors had examined the 83-year mother of the sect chief who according to him was suffering from heart ailments.

Doctors, however, found little truth in the claim that the sect chief’s mother needed any urgent medical attention. Twice earlier in the last six months, attempts to seek parole for the Dera chief have been grounded.