Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim's close aide Pawan Insan sent to five-day police custody

Panchkula: A court in Panchkula town sent Pawan Insan, a close aide of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, to five days police remand on Tuesday.

After being on the run for nearly three months, Pawan Insan was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Haryana Police on Monday from Lalru town in Punjab, around 30 kilometres from Chandigarh.

He had been on the run since the 25 August violence in Panchkula town, adjoining Chandigarh, in which 41 people were killed and over 260 injured.

Thousands of followers of the sect chief indulged in large-scale violence in Panchkula following his conviction for the rape of two female disciples.

The sect chief was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court in the rape cases and fined over Rs 30 lakh. He is lodged at the District Jail in Sunaria near Rohtak since 25 August.

Close aides of the sect chief like Honeypreet Insan, Aditya Insan, and Pawan Insan were booked by the police for sedition, instigating the mobs and criminal conspiracy.

While Honeypreet Insan was arrested in early October, after remaining fugitive for 38 days, Pawan Insan remained elusive for 85 days. Aditya Insan, a doctor, continues to be on the run.

Haryana Director General of Police BS Sandhu had said earlier that an international alert had been sounded on all three sect functionaries.

The police also moved to attach the private properties of all three. The Haryana Police had released a list of 43 persons, including these three, who were involved in the violence that took place in Panchkula.