Dera Sacha Sauda

Dera Sacha Sauda is a large sect headquartered at Sirsa, Haryana, with centres across Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. Scroll gives its founding as 28 April 1948 by Shah Mastana Baluchistani. It describes the following as overwhelmingly Dalit, drawn from people alienated from mainstream religious institutions. The Dera's own advertorials claim six crore followers, a figure no source has verified.

Heads, in order: Wikipedia lists Shah Mastana (d. 1960), then Shah Satnam Singh (1963 to 1990), then Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who has led it since 23 September 1990, when Shah Satnam Singh named him successor.

Key moments

• May 2007: Sikh bodies accused Ram Rahim of imitating Guru Gobind Singh and serving amrit. He told The Tribune, "I have never imitated Guru Gobind Singh." On 17 May the Sikh clergy at Talwandi Sabo told the Sangat to cut all social, religious and political ties with him. A Sikh, Kanwaljit Singh, aged 28, was shot dead near the Dera's Naam Charcha Ghar at Sunam, and a Tribune report counted more than 50 injured in the clashes.
• 24 September 2015: the Akal Takht pardoned Ram Rahim over the 2007 charge. It withdrew the pardon on 16 October 2015. In December 2025 the Akal Takht declared former Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh tankhaiya for issuing it.
• 2015 sacrilege: the Punjab Police SIT named Ram Rahim as the key conspirator in the Bargari cases. A CBI closure report had found nothing against Dera followers. On 18 October 2024 the Supreme Court lifted a High Court stay, and Punjab approved his prosecution. He and seven others are accused. The trial is pending.
• 25 August 2017: a CBI court at Panchkula convicted him of raping two women followers, and he is serving a 20-year sentence. Violence after the verdict killed 38 people, 32 in Panchkula and 6 in Sirsa.
• Murder cases: a CBI court convicted him in January 2019 over the 2002 killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, and in 2021 over the killing of the Dera's former manager Ranjit Singh. The High Court acquitted him in the Ranjit Singh case in May 2024 and in the Chhatrapati case on 7 March 2026. Chhatrapati's son Anshul said the family will challenge the acquittal in the Supreme Court.

Paroles: Ram Rahim has been released 17 times since 2017. The Week counts the 16th, a 30-day parole, from 26 May 2026, and ETV Bharat the 17th, a 21-day parole, from 25 August 2026. The Tribune lists releases timed close to elections in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Rajasthan. Congress leaders call it a BJP tactic. The Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled in August 2024 that temporary release must follow the 2022 Act without favouritism or discrimination.