What now for Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s 'angel', Honeypreet?
The Haryana police named Honeypreet as one of the 43 Dera functionaries behind the conspiracy to incite violence and sedition.
“I am innocent! My Papa is innocent,” 37-year-old Priyanka Taneja, or Honeypreet Kaur Insan, or incarcerated Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s “angel”, tearfully protested, hours before teams of the Haryana and Punjab police tracked her down and arrested her outside Chandigarh on October 3.
On the run for 38 days following the arson and violence in the wake of the Dera chief’s conviction on August 25, Honeypreet claimed she had committed no wrong. “You’ve all seen what happened. I accompanied Papa to the court. There was so much security. How could I have entered (the court) without permission,” she said.
She claimed she was “frightened” and in “deep depression”.
The Haryana police had named her as one of the 43 Dera functionaries behind the conspiracy to incite violence and sedition.
Short of two months since her arrest, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted in the wake of the violence, which resulted in the death of more than 40 people in Panchkula and the Dera headquarters in Sirsa (Haryana), has formally charged Honeypreet.
A 900-plus page chargesheet submitted to a court in Panchkula on November 28 details the role of Honeypreet and 11 others in planning and instigating the violence. They will all be prosecuted under Indian Penal Code Sections 121 (waging or attempting to wage war, or abetting waging of war against the government) and 121- A (conspiracy to commit offences punishable under Section 121).
Others charged include Sacha Sauda’s legal head Dan Singh, spokesman Dilawar Insan and Gurmeet Singh’s personal assistant Rakesh Kumar Arora. Besides the 12, several others have been charged with harbouring Honeypreet and the others while they were on the run.
The SIT chargesheet lists 64 prosecution witnesses, including a number of former Dera adherents and still incumbent functionaries. Officials say the chargesheet makes detailed references to a July 18 meeting at the Dera’s Sirsa headquarters, where Honeypreet and the others allegedly planned to instigate trouble in the event of Gurmeet Singh’s conviction.
The documents also reportedly mention “instructions” to Rakesh to start the violence in Panchkula. Sources said the SIT has put together an entire body of evidence to show that a section of the thousands of Dera adherents, who descended upon Panchkula ahead of the CBI Special Court’s verdict on July 25, had come prepared and equipped to indulge in large-scale arson.
There is also evidence to show that senior Sacha Sauda functionaries distributed more than Rs 1.25 crore to stir violence outside the courts complex.
A “plain jane” without her ever-so-carefully-made-up face and outlandish, Bollywood-inspired costumes, Honeypreet’s fall from the perch she occupied besides Gurmeet before his conviction is precipitous.
From virtually single-handedly controlling the vast Dera empire, “Papa’s Angel” now faces a lonely time behind bars.
(Courtesy of Mail Today)