press trust of india
Sirsa (Haryana), Sept 8: A luxury car without a registration plate and old currency notes, among other things, were seized from the headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda here, Friday.
The seizures were made during a search of the premises in the wake of the conviction of the head of the sect Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case recently.
The search team comprising members of security forces and district authorities, also sealed some rooms, seized hard disks and recovered some unlabelled medicines, Haryana’s Information and Public Relations Deputy Director Satish Mehra told reporters.
The exercise began amid tight security handled by police and paramilitary personnel.
“Some rooms have been sealed, computer hard disk drives, unregistered Lexus car, an OB van, Rs7,000 of demonetized currency, Rs12,000 cash and some medicines without labels or brand name are among other items which have been seized,” he said.
Mehra said forensic teams had reached Sirsa from Karnal and Sonipat, while forensic experts had also been called in from Roorkee in Uttarakhand.
Reports of plastic “coins” or tokens being found during the operations could not be confirmed.
The process, which began around 8 am, is being videographed and monitored by retired District and Sessions Judge A K S Pawar, who was appointed as a Court Commissioner by the Punjab and Haryana High Court Tuesday to oversee the exercise.
Curfew remains in force on roads leading to the Dera headquarters. The roads are also blocked and no unauthorised person is being allowed to move towards the Dera premises.
The Dera, spread over nearly 800 acres, has been divided into ten zones for the purpose of sanitisation and searches, with each zone under the control of a senior officer.
Mobile internet services have been suspended in Sirsa district till September 10 to curb the spread of rumours in view of the drive, and to prevent the disturbance of public order.
Journalists were stopped at the Shah Satnam Singh Chowk, about 7km from the headquarters. The chowk, which separates the heart of the city from the Dera, is also under heavy security.
