Honeypreet paid Rs 1.25 crore to spark riot in Panchkula, say cops

Honeypreet Insan  allegedly gave Rs 1.25 crore to Dera Sacha Sauda's Panchkula branch head, Chamkaur Singh, a couple of days ahead of dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's conviction in rape cases on August 25. This was revealed to cops by Rakesh Kumar, personal assistant-cum-driver of Gurmeet, during interrogation.

Police officials believe the money was used to pay supporters to spark a riot in Panchkula in the event of Gurmeet being convicted of rape by the CBI court, reports Times of India. 

Rakesh Kumar is currently in the custody of the special investigation team (SIT) headed by ACP Mukesh Malhotra. As many as 36 people, all dera folowers, were killed in Panchkula after police opened fire to quell the rioting.

Rakesh was arrested on September 27. He had accompanied Gurmeet and Honeypreet to Panchkula on the day of the verdict. Later, on August 26, he also took Honeypreet from Rohtak to Sirsa.

Panchkula commissioner of police A S Chawla confirmed that Rs 1.25 crore was handed over to Chamkaur but refused to share more details. "These are operation details and part of investigations," he said.

Chawla also confirmed that the broad planning of the violence on August 25 was done in the Dera headquarters in Sirsa ahead of the verdict in the rape case. Referring to two other accused Aditya Insan and Pawan Insan, Chawla said both were in the country and police teams were close to nabbing them.

Honeypreet is not the main culprit but politicians who helped Ram Rahim to become who he is are. We want to know who they are.

During interrogation, it has also come to light that Sukhdeep Kaur, who was arrested with Honeypreet on October 3, and her husband Iqbal Singh, were part of the dera's core group. Sukhdeep was trained in driving and handling of arms in the dera premises. Iqbal had taken her to Sunaria jail where Gurmeet is lodged. On the Dera head's instructions, Sukhdeep was attached with Honeypreet.

Meanwhile, the cyber cell of Haryana Police has retrieved data from a computer hard disc, which was allegedly formatted by the Dera IT team. The cops have got information revealing the transaction of crores of rupees.