Chandigarh: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples, walked out of Sunaria jail in Rohtak on Monday after being granted a 40-day parole. This marks the 15th time Singh has been released on parole since his conviction in 2017.

During the 40-day period, Singh will stay at his Sirsa-headquartered Dera, according to Dera spokesperson and advocate Jitender Khurana. Singh, along with three others, was also convicted in 2019 for the murder of a journalist more than 16 years ago.

Singh’s recent parole follows a series of temporary releases in the past few years. He was last released on a 40-day parole in August 2025. In April 2025, he was granted a 21-day furlough, and in January 2025, a 30-day parole, ahead of the February 5 Delhi assembly elections. Earlier, on October 1, 2024, Singh walked out on a 20-day parole just days before the Haryana assembly polls held on October 5, 2024. He had also received a 21-day furlough in August 2024 and a three-week furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab assembly polls.

These temporary releases have drawn criticism from Sikh organizations, including the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, which have repeatedly raised concerns about granting such relief to Singh.

In May 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Singh and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect’s former manager, Ranjit Singh, citing “tainted and sketchy” investigations and overturning a special CBI court order that had sentenced them to life imprisonment. The Central Bureau of Investigation had previously held Singh guilty of orchestrating a criminal conspiracy with his co-accused.

On most of the past 14 occasions when Singh was released, he remained at the Dera’s ashram in Baghpat district of Uttar Pradesh.

The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda commands a significant following across Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and other states. In Haryana, the sect has a notable presence in districts such as Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, and Hisar.

This latest parole comes amid continuing scrutiny over temporary releases of high-profile convicts ahead of political elections and highlights the ongoing debate around prison furloughs for influential religious leaders.