FILE – In this May 17, 2017 file photo, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan, attends the premiere of the movie ‘Jattu Engineer’ in New Delhi, India. (AP Photo)

Another close aide of rape convict Dera Sachha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim has been arrested by Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Haryana police. The SIT is probing into the Panchula violence that was carried out by Dera chief’s aides following his conviction last year on charges of raping two sadhvis. The close aide of Ram Rahim arrested by SIT on Sunday is a doctor, who allegedly used to perform castration on Dera followers. The accused Dr. MP Singh, alias Mahender Insan, was arrested from the Dera Sachcha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa.

The close aide of Ram Rahim, Mahender Insan was wanted in the Panchkula violence case. He had been absconding since a case was registered against him in Chandigarh on August 28 last year.

On the direction of Ram Rahim, Mahender, who is a qualified surgeon, had allegedly castrated scores of Dera followers. According to a report by India Today, Mahender is accused of castrating as many as 300 followers of Ram Rahim.

Interestingly, as per reports, the absconding doctor was hiding in the Dera Sacha Sauda complex, where police had carried out a sanitation drive in September last year after getting a direction from the high court.

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in August last year by the Special CBI Court of Panchkula in connection with a decade-old rape case.

Violence broke out in Panchkula and several other places following Ram Rahim’s conviction. It was later revealed during the probe by police, that the violence was pre-planned by key aides of Ram Rahim, including his adopted daughter Honeypreet Insaan.

Ram Rahim was sentenced by Jagdeep Singh, a special CBI judge, in a makeshift court in the Sunaria jail where Ram Rahim, 50, had been lodged since his conviction on Friday. Media reports had then said that Ram Rahim broke down and asked for forgiveness with folded hands when the sentence was read out.

The Dera chief was found guilty of rape in a case that stemmed from an anonymous written complaint in April 2002 that he had sexually exploited two female followers. The case was registered by CBI in December 2002 on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The CBI had filed the charge sheet against the Dera head in Ambala court in July 2007. The charge sheet mentioned sexual exploitation of two ‘Sadhvis’ (women followers) between 1999 and 2001.

The special CBI court had framed charges against Ram Rahim under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC in September 2008. Between 2009 and 2010, the two complainants recorded their statements before the court.