BARNALA: The divide, caused by days of raging controversy over the Dera Sacha Sauda chief's attire, between Sikhs and sect followers remains deep and unbridged.

Seemingly innocuous incidents, like that of death, are enough to bring out simmering tensions between the two communities. In one such incident in Gangohar village on Wednesday, Bakshish Singh, who died on Tuesday night, had to be cremated in the open as local Sikhs opposed his incineration in the cremation ground.

Ambala, November 17
Cases against the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh were adjourned by a CBI court here today.

Special Judge for CBI cases in Haryana R.K. Saini adjourned the cases to December 1. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was present in court.

Counsel for the dera chief sought time for carrying out arguments on the chargesheet while counsel for the CBI said there should not be any further delay in this regard.

The CBI counsel stated that the process for framing of charges against the dera chief should take place at the earliest.

Ambala, October 20
The CBI today strongly opposed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s regular bail application in a rape case and two cases of murder conspiracy in the court of special judge for CBI cases in Haryana R.K. Saini.

While CBI chief public prosecutor Rajan Gupta concluded his arguments against the regular bail application filed by the dera chief, the arguments by the counsel of the dera chief could not be completed today.

Saini ordered that further arguments on the regular bail application would take place on October 22.

Ambala, October 4
A CBI court today granted interim bail to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

Special Judge for CBI cases in Haryana R.K. Saini granted interim bail to the dera chief till October 15.

A regular bail application was moved by counsel for the dera chief. The arguments by counsel for the dera chief and counsel for the CBI lasted more than an hour and a half.

The counsel for the dera chief said he was being falsely implicated in the case. It was submitted that the dera chief was not involved in the cases being investigated by the CBI.

Ambala/Sirsa, October 3
Security has been beefed up in Ambala City as Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim is to appear in a CBI court tomorrow.

District magistrate Mohammad Shayin said Section 144 had been imposed in Ambala City to ensure that there was no law and order problem.

He said information had been received that a large number of dera followers had assembled in Ambala City. He said there was a possibility that traffic would be affected and normal functioning at the court complex might also be affected.

New Delhi, October 3
The Supreme Court today dismissed an application for cancelling the interim bail of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a journalist’s murder case. The apex court advised the kin of the Sirsa-based scribe Ram Chander Chattrapati to approach the trial court before which the proceedings were going on after the filing of the charge sheet by the CBI.

A Bench of justices Ashok Bhan and V.S. Sirpurkar rejected the application of Chattrapati’s kin after his counsel Debashish Mishra made a special mention of it for an urgent hearing.

SANGRUR: Three days after followers of a religious sect had vandalised offices of a vernacular newspaper, some unknown persons on Tuesday morning fired at the vehicle of another newspaper.

The vehicle was carrying newspapers of inhouse publication of Dera Sacha Sauda, in news for its head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s copying of Guru Gobind Singh.

Chandigarh, September 27
Khatta Singh, a former driver of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, today alleged that the dera chief had been blackmailing him.

He alleged that the dera chief is using Shaminder Kaur, his niece, a sadhvi in the dera, who level allegations against him.

Addressing media persons Khatta Singh said Shaminder’s mother and her sister Sukhjit Kaur had moved a writ petition in Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking release of her daughter from the dera.

Chandigarh, September 24
Justice M.M. Aggarwal today appointed a warrant officer to visit the Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, so as to establish the veracity of allegations levelled in a habeas corpus petition by a Bathinda resident.

The petitioner, Sukhjit Kaur, averred that her daughter, Suminder Kaur, who was a niece of Khatta Singh, a prime prosecution witness in the murder and rape cases against the Dera Sacha Sauda head, was being kept in illegal custody in the dera.