Chandigarh: Ahead of Haryana Assembly polls in October-November, rape and murder convict and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim was released on a 21-day parole on Tuesday.
Sources said that after coming out of prison on parole he left for an ashram in Bhagpat in Uttar Pradesh.
Ram Rahim was serving a 20-year sentence in Sunaria jail of Rohtak district after being convicted in cases related to raping his two disciples and a case related to the murder of journalist Ramchander Chhatrapati. He was convicted for the first time in 2017.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had recently disposed of a petition by Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee against granting parole to Ram Rahim.
This is the eighth time since February 2022 that Ram Rahim has been released on parole, almost each time coinciding with some elections or the other.