 "New Delhi: In this file picture Dera Sacha Sauda chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh addresses a press conference in Dharamsala on Oct 17, 2016")
More than 4,200 people recommended 'Saint Dr Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan' for a Padma award in 2017, while the self-styled godman and now rape convict proposed his own name for the honour five times.
According to the list of recommendations or nominations for Padma Awards 2017, the Union home ministry received 18,768 applications.
The highest 4,208 recommendations, including two from 'Saintgorge William Sonet' and 'India Saintgorge', both from Hissar in Haryana, were received for conferring any one of the three Padma awards on the controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief, reveal documents accessed by PTI.
All recommendations were marked in the name of 'Saint Dr Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan', also known as 'rockstar baba' and 'guru of bling', and almost all had come from Sirsa in Haryana, the headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda.
Gurmeet, who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping two followers this week, recommended himself five times. While his address was given as Sirsa three times, on the other two applications he gave Hissar in Haryana and Ganganagar in Rajasthan, where he was born.
