(Image source from: Deccanchronicle.com)

Illegal Explosives Factory Found Inside Dera HQ, Search Continues On Day 2:- On the second day of a massive sanitization exercise inside the Dera of rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on Saturday, an illegal fire cracker factory was found.

The mammoth search operation which began on Friday on the direction of Punjab and Haryana High Court, involved hordes of police, paramilitary and civil administration personnel.

(Image Source: The Indian Express)

“A fire cracker factory has been found inside the Dera premises and it is an illegal factory,” said state Information and Public Relations Department Deputy Director, Satish Mehra. Mehra has been authorized by the administration to speak to the media. Some explosive material to be used in making fire crackers was also found. “The illegal factory has been sealed,” Mehra said.

Yesterday, during the sanitization exercise, an unregistered luxury car and some banned currency notes were seized from the Dera of Singh. The search also involved forensic examination of his so-called cave where he allegedly used to sexually exploit women. Besides this, during the 12-hour day long exercise, some rooms were also sealed and hard disk drives and unlabeled medicines recovered.

The retired District and Sessions Judge, AKS Pawar, is overseeing and video graphing the entire sanitization process. The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday appointed Pawar as the Court Commissioner. Curfew remains in force on the road leading inside the Dera headquarters. No unauthorized person was being allowed to go inside the Dera premises. However, life remained normal in Sirsa city. A large number of vehicles including police buses and paramilitary vehicles, Quick Reaction Team vehicles, bomb disposal squad and anti-sabotage team vehicles, carrying cops and paramilitary personnel made their way inside the Dera premises this morning, officials said.

Vehicles of the district administration carrying officials drawn from various government departments also made their way inside the Dera premises. Besides, some fire tenders, heavy earth moving machines and tractors have also been pressed into service for the sanitization exercise. Sixteen ‘nakas’ have been set up near the Dera and forty-one companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed in Sirsa district.

A number of Dera followers who had parted ways with the sect head, have reportedly told the media earlier that except for the Dera chief and his close aides, nobody was allowed to enter the ‘Gufa’ or private residence.

The Dera has been divided into ten zones for the purpose of sanitization and searches, with each zone under the control of a senior officer. The premises of the Dera, houses educational institutions, markets, a hospital, stadium, recreational areas and houses. The Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was jailed for 20 years in two rape cases last month. Singh who featured in a few films directed and co-produced by himself, also has some shops in the complex where consumer products launched two years ago under “MSG” brand are sold.

(Video Source: Aaj Tak)

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