Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim granted 21-day furlough

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is lodged in Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak district, was granted a three-week furlough on Monday, officials said.

Singh has been granted a 21-day furlough by the state's jail administration.

Last year too, the Dera chief had been given emergency parole from sunrise to sunset to meet his ailing mother. He had also come out of jail on a couple of occasions on health grounds.

Singh, 54, is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his women disciples in his 'ashram' in Sirsa.He was convicted in August 2017 by a special CBI court in Panchkula.

The Sirsa headquartered Dera has a large number of followers in poll-bound states of Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.