india

Updated: Aug 27, 2017 10:02 IST

“Papa’s angel, philanthropist, director, editor and actress… Passionate to transform my Rockstar Papa’s directions into actions”.

This is how Honeypreet Insan, considered among the closest to convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and his likely successor, describes herself on Facebook.

Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, has a massive following — her Facebook page has almost 500,000 likes, her word is considered Singh’s decision and she has even acted opposite the flamboyant 50-year-old rape convict in several films.

She caught media attention when she accompanied Singh to the CBI court on Friday. Insiders say she became his shadow in the past few years. The Dera’s website on her introduces her as a prodigy of sorts who learnt editing, direction and acting without any training. “When her dad watched her putting so much of hard work and learning directing skills so fast, he thought of giving her a chance to debut as a director in MSG The Warrior Lion Heart,” says the website.

Dera Sacha Sauda has dedicated a fancy website to Honeypreet Insan, introducing her as a prodigy of sorts who learnt editing, direction and acting without any training.

Honeypreet, who is in her thirties, is from Fatehabad near Hisar. Dera followers don’t know her exact age but say she rose through the sect’s ranks because of her proximity to Singh.

Priyanka was given her present name after the dera chief got her married to Vishwas Gupta, a Dera follower from Sirsa, in 1999. Dera insiders claim that when Honeypreet complained to Singh that her in-laws were demanding dowry, he adopted her as his daughter in 2009 and made Vishwas his son-in-law, which gave a big boost to his business. But soon Gupta fell out with his father-in-law, and in 2011 approached the Punjab and Haryana HC to seek the custody of his wife from the Dera chief.

In 2015, Honeypreet started directing and acting in Singh’s movies. Sources say at a meeting of volunteers, he announced that she could be a candidate for his seat. Even now, her word carries a lot of weight in the Dera.