CHANDIGARH: A week after Haryana police killed 32 people to quell a riot triggered by the rape conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh, senior officials are asking how come the rioters seemed to have advance information on positions taken by security forces in the streets of Panchkula.
So was there a mole in the police hierarchy leaking plans to the Dera Sacha Sauda? Credence to this suspicion is coming from reports that the coterie around Gurmeet Ram Rahim planned before hand to spring him from custody should he be convicted.
And the needle of the Haryana police suspicion is pointing to seven state police personnel who were detailed to guard the Dera chief. These seven troopers were arrested and dismissed from service after reports of their participation in the great escape plan emerged. Sources say they knew each and every movement and plan of the police before and after violence erupted in Panchkula on August 25.
Further fuelling the Haryana police suspicions, they found walkie-talkies in the jammer vehicle attached to the sect leader. “Whatever information was being relayed to security personnel on three different police frequencies was either being heard by these guards or was being passed on to them by someone,’’ said an officer.
In custody, the seven sacked policemen have reportedly confirmed to their interrogators that the wireless sets found in the jammer vehicle were indeed police equipment, and that they were listening to all the messages being flashed on the police network on that frantic day.
Haryana police are seeking to use this leak to explain why they were taken aback by the internsity of rioting and how the rioters seem to know all about police movements.
Another ‘fact’ the Haryana police are putting about is that a nonverbal signal was conveyed to the followers to begin rioting after the judge pronounced Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty of rape inside the CBI court.
One of the Dera chief’s security guards was told to fetch a red suitcase from his vehicle parked outside, and that was the signal for bedlam to begin, sources say. The seven policemen have now been booked under the Information Technology Act.