Dera chief s aide surrenders, arrested

Panchkula (Haryana) Aug 31 (IANS) Haryana Police on Thursday arrested an aide of rapist Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh after he surrendered here after being booked for sedition and inciting violence.

Police officials did that Surender Dhiman a Dera functionary and journalist with its newspaper Sach Kahoon surrendered before the police here on Thursday.

He was taken into custody and produced in a local court which sent him on a seven-day police remand.

Dhiman along with Dera spokesman Aditya Insan were among the five people booked by the Haryana Police here last week for inciting violence by Dera followers after the rape conviction of the sect chief by the CBI special court here on August 25.

A local journalist had complained to the police that he saw the Dera functionaries inciting followers of the sect after the court convicted the Dera chief for the rape of two female followers in 1999.

The police had booked them on charges of sedition inciting violence and other sections.

At least 38 people died and 264 were injured in large scale violence by Dera supporters following the conviction of the Dera chief.

--IANS
js/rn