Dera camp in Mysore illegal, declares official

Mysore, Jun 24 (UNI) The district revenue authorities, who visited the camp of the controversial Dera Sacha Saudha Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh near Siddalingapura on Mysore-Bangalore state highway, today declared it as an illegal construction.

Tahasildar D B Natesh and other officials, who inspected the camp today, told newspersons that at the camp that the construction clearly violated various norms and there was no proper records and it was 'clear case' for the demolition.

"I will submit detailed report to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard for further actions. The camp built on an area of 2.5 acres belonged to one Eranna, a resident of Mysore and a person named Sukhdev Singh, belonging to Sikh community, had purchased this land.

However, the land was not transferred in his name. The illegal camp came to light when Mr Singh submitted application for khata (title) transfer during April.

The authorites had issued notice to Mr Singh to produce the certificate proving that he was a farmer within 30 days. He however did not responded, the official said.

During the inspection it was found that the camp had water connection from the nearby Varuna canal. Authorities had seized motor and other related materials.

The inspection was taken up following a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner P Manivannan by the some.

About 800 disciples of the Dera Chief had constructed the camp structure last month in a record time of just 40 hours.

It may be recalled here that Dera Chief stayed in the camp three days ago after arriving from Pune following the incident of his security guards a person from Sikh community in Mumbai that had led to violent protests.

However he left the camp during the early hours of yesterday to New Delhi and later to his camp in Haryana.

There was widespread protests from the community in many parts of the country, including in Karnataka, demanding his arrest in connection with the killing.

UNI BSP RS SKB1806