Honeypreet Insan, the “adopted daughter” of jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was questioned well into the night at a police station in Haryana’s Panchkula after her arrest yesterday. Sources say she was questioned till 3 am on the charges against her, which include sedition and rioting.
She was briefly taken to hospital after she complained of chest pain in the night. Doctors reportedly declared she was fine.
Honeypreet, originally Priyanka Taneja, was arrested after being hunted for over a month by the Haryana police, which sent its teams to Rajasthan and Bihar and even the border with Nepal. She was questioned for four-and-a-half hours on her role in the violence by Dera supporters on August 25 after Ram Rahim was declared guilty of raping two followers; the police say 38 people were killed in the violence.
The 36-year-old, who calls herself ‘Papa’s Angel’ on social media, went missing the same day, after escorting the Dera chief on a special chopper from Panchkula to a Rohtak jail. She has been accused of trying to help him escape and also instigating the rioting.
“She was asked many questions on the Panchkula Riots, where she was after that day and the people she was in touch with,” said a police officer, who revealed that she was “evasive”.
Yesterday, Honeypreet told the News 24 channel that the charges against her are false and also defended her relationship with Ram Rahim, who is serving 20 years in prison for two rapes.
She said she was “devastated and depressed” by the allegations against Ram Rahim and her. “When Papa went away (was jailed), my world came crashing down,” she said.
Lashing out at her ex-husband Vishwas Gupta, who had alleged that their father-daughter relationship was a sham meant for devotees, she said: “I cannot understand how anyone can point fingers at pious relations that are there between a father and his daughter. What proof do they have?”
She also rubbished the rape charge against Ram Rahim. “We call him ‘papa coach’. Crores of women and girls have been empowered by Papaji. You believe two women and not millions others?”
