Dera Sacha Sauda Chief could not attend court due to backache

Ambala, Jul 5 (UNI) Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is facing trial in murder and rape cases being pursued by the CBI, today did not appear in the Special CBI Court here due to backache.

The counsel for the Dera Chief submitted an application in the court stating that his client was unable to attend the court because of backache. The special court today fixed July 26 as the next date of hearing.

The police here had made elaborate arrangements to provide security to the Dera Chief who has of late been receiving threats from various Sikh organisations from Punjab following the killing of a Sikh youth by his gunman at Mumbai last month.

The Police continued to beef up the security for the Dera Chief till late night and more than 2000 police personnel were deployed.

The intelligence agencies were also alerted in view of the threats from the Sikh organisations. The agency officials had been deployed to keep strict watch over the movements of people entering the town. They were keeping watch on the hotels and people coming from across Haryana border.

However, only a few followers had turned up to Ambala City today. It is learnt that the Dera premies had been informed in advance that he was not attending the court today.

UNI XC PS VN1532