Court Commissioner submits report on sanitisation process of Dera headquarters

Chandigarh: The Court Commissioner who oversaw the sanitisation process of the Sirsa headquarters Dera Sacha Sauda that led to the unearthing of two secret tunnels on Wednesday submitted its report to the full bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Meanwhile, the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate sought time till the next date of hearing fo submitting its status report on any violations by the Dera. [caption id=“attachment_4200343” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Dera sanitisation process. PTI[/caption] The full bench comprising justices AG Masih, Surya Kant and Avneesh Jhingan was hearing a PIL filed by Panchkula resident Ravinder Dhull, a lawyer, who was concerned over the law and order situation in his town. After Court Commissioner AKS Pawar on Wednesday submitted two reports, including one on the sanitisation process, the bench passed directions to supply its copies to the parties in a pen drive, advocate Navkaran Singh said. The court commissioner was appointed by the high court t oversee the sanitisation process of the sect premises. Th three-day-long exercise from 8 to 10 September had led to the unearthing of two secret tunnels, an illegal firecracker factory and an unlicensed skin bank. Petitioner Ravinder Dhull while talking to reporters said the videography of the sanitisation process would not be made public until the bench takes a decision on the same. Dera’s counsel SK Garg Narwana said he had raised a objection that the videography should not be made public. He said the educational institutions being run by the Dera Sacha Sauda had started functioning in Sirsa. The bench also asked Sirsa Superintendent of Polic Ashwin Shenvi, who was present in the court, to file comprehensive report after he told the bench that the polic did not rule out the possibility of removal of assets and other articles from the Dera headquarters from 25-27 August. The SP said the priority of the security forces including police, was to maintain law and order in Sirsa after violence erupted when the Dera sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahi Singh was convicted of raping his disciples on 25 August. Dhull said the court also asked the SP to state in his report whether the police was able to stop the removal of good from the Dera from 28 August to 8 September. Notably on the last date of hearing in September, the bench had asked the Haryana government to clarify if an property was moved out from the Sirsa-based headquarter before the sanitisation process. Additional Solicitor General of India Satya Pal Jain, wh is representing the Centre in the case, said the bench gav permission to the Income Tax Department and the ED to fil status report on examination of the Dera assets and on violation of rules on the next date. “We told the court that the IT and the ED wer investigating the matter and they seized documents. We urge the court the strategy and investigation (of IT and ED conducted so far can be leaked if we file status report today We sought from the court to allow the IT and the ED to fill status report on the next date,” he said. Jain said the court fixed the next date of hearing for 20 December. On the last date of hearing, the highh court had directe central agencies — the Income Tax Department and th Enforcement Directorate — to examine the Dera Sacha Sauda sec assets and check for violation of rules under the Income Tax Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The bench also asked the special investigation team o the Haryana Police to file a status report regarding wha efforts were made to arrest those who were still evading th arrest and also conspiracy, if any, hatched by Dera activist to trigger violence on 25 August. Advocate Navkaran Singh sought from the Haryan government the status of the case pertaining to violence tha had occurred in Panchkula on 25 August Singh said the Haryana government told the court that six persons out of the 22 missing from the Dera were traced. Over 40 persons were killed and scored were injured i incidents of violence after the Dera chief was convicted by special CBI court in Panchkula for raping his two disciples on 25 August. The CBI court later awarded 20-year sentence to him.