Dera camp in Mysore 'illegal' says officials

Mysore, Jun 24 (UNI) The district revenue authorities, who visited the camp of the controversial Dera Sachcha Saudha chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh near Siddalingapura on Mysore-Bangalore State Highway, today declared it an illegal construction.

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

''I will submit detailed report to the Deputy Commissioner in this regard for further action.

''The camp built on an area of 2.5 acre belongs to Eranna, a resident of Mysore and a person named Sukhdev Singh, belonging to Sikh community, purchased this land. However, the land has not been transferred in his name,'' he said.

The illegal camp came to light when Mr Singh submitted application for 'khata' (title) transfer in April.

The authorites had issued notice to Mr Singh to produce the certificate proving he was a farmer, within 30 days. He, however, has 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.

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

The Dera Chief stayed in the camp three days ago after arriving from Pune following an incident in which one of his security guards shot dead a person from the Sikh community in Mumbai leading to violent protests.

However, he left the camp early yesterday to New Delhi and later for his camp in Haryana.

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

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