Explosives Factory Unearthed in Dera Sacha Sauda's Sirsa Headquarters, Sect Says It Was Making Crackers

Sirsa: An illegal explosives manufacturing unit was unearthed inside the Sirsa headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda on Saturday, the second day of the search and sanitization operations at the controversial sect’s premises.

According to early reports, police have sealed this illegal factory to further investigate the findings, which included more than 80 cartons of explosives. The Dera Sacha Sauda functionaries reportedly claimed the explosives were being used to make firecrackers.

"A fire cracker factory has been found inside the Dera premises and it is an illegal factory," said state Information and Public Relations Department Deputy Director, Satish Mehra, who has been authorised by the administration to speak to the media.

The search operations were launched on Friday by district officials, police and paramilitary personnel. Within hours, they had seized huge amounts of cash, banned currency and hard disks. They also rescued two minors from the sprawling property of sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year jail term after being convicted of rape.

The police personnel and other officers were accompanied by locksmiths who broke into the convicted godman’s estate on Friday.

According to an IANS report, the search teams had also found hundreds of pairs of shoes, designer clothes and colourful caps of the disgraced sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who was convicted on two counts of rape of female disciples in August.

During Friday's raids, an unregistered luxury car and some banned currency notes were seized from the Dera premises during the sanitisation exercise, which also involved forensic examination of his so-called cave where he allegedly used to sexually exploit women.

A huge search operation, involving hordes of police, paramilitary and civil administration personnel, was launched at 8 am on Friday at the headquarters of Dera Sacha Sauda spread over 800 acres here, two weeks after a CBI court convicted its head of rape and sentenced him to 20 years in jail in two rape cases.

The Dera premises also house educational institutions, markets, a hospital, a stadium, recreational areas and houses.