'Daughter' of jailed Dera chief gets bail in riot case

 A court on Wednesday granted bail to Honeypreet Insan, a close aide and adopted daughter of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, in a case of violence in Haryana's Panchkula in 2017 after the self-styled godman's sentence.

This comes as another major relief to Honeypreet as four days ago a local court dropped sedition charges against her and 35 other accused.

Forty-one people were arrested and five accused, including Aditya Insan, declared proclaimed offenders by a court last year.

Honeypreet is currently injudicial custody and lodged in Ambala jail.

Honeypreet, Aditya Insan and Pawan Insan were booked by the police on charges of sedition, inciting violence and being involved in a conspiracy to help the Dera chief escape after his conviction by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on August 25, 2017, on two counts of rape of female disciples in 1999.

Honeypreet, in her mid-30s, had been the closest aide of Ram Rahim since 2009.

The woman -- who has been claiming to be Ram Rahim's "adopted daughter" -- starred as the main heroine in five films that he directed, produced and acted in over a period of three years.

Ram Rahim has been sentenced to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment with a fine of over Rs 30 lakh.

His rape conviction led to violence in Panchkula and Sirsa towns in Haryana that left 38 people dead and 264 injured. Isolated incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several places in Punjab.

When the court had dropped the sedition charges on November 2, Honeypreet's counsel Dhruv Gupta told the media that it was a "good ground" to apply for bail.
IANS