Delhi High Court rejects Honeypreet Insan's anticipatory bail plea

New Delhi:The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of Honeypreet Insan, the "adopted daughter" of the now jailed Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

"The plea is without merit. Honeypreet has been evading arrest in Haryana," ruled Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal on the plea moved earlier in the day by Honeypreet, who apprehended a threat to her life in Haryana.

Her advocate Pradeep Kumar Arya told the bench that she is willing to join investigation but wants protection from arrest.

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday ordered Honeypreet Insan, the 'adopted daughter' of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Singh, to surrender in the court if she fears of her life.

The Delhi HC said so while hearing the anticipatory bail application filed by Honeypreet's counsel. She, in her plea, has asserted that she is ready to cooperate in the probe from the day after tomorrow.

The court, however, asked her counsel why she did not approach Punjab and Haryana High Court instead.

Her lawyer claimed that she fears of her life there and hence has come to Delhi HC. The court immediately asked Honeypreet to surrender in court if she fears of her life.

Honeypreet, in her bail plea has asserted, she is a single woman with clean antecedents, adding, "I am a law-abiding woman and willing to join the investigation."

After hearing the plea, the Delhi High Court reserved its order on Honeypreet's bail plea.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, the Haryana Police conducted raids in the national capital, including at a house in Greater Kailash, in a bid to arrest fugitive Honeypreet and Aditya Insan, close aides of jailed Dera chief.

"Panchkula police came with an arrest warrant for Honeypreet at A-9 Greater Kailash Enclave. The place was raided at 7.30 am, but she was not found there," Deputy Commissioner of Police south-east Delhi Romil Baaniya said.

The officer said the house was a Dera Sacha Sauda asset and a person identified as R.K. Malhotra was the caretaker.

The DCP said "no one was found" at the property.

The move came a day after Honeypreet, whose real name is Priyanka Taneja, moved the Delhi High Court seeking anticipatory transit bail.

A court in Panchkula, adjoining Chandigarh, on Monday issued arrest warrants against Honeypreet, Aditya Insan and Pawan Insan.

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All three were booked by the Haryana Police on charges of sedition, inciting violence and being involved in the conspiracy to help the Dera chief escape after his conviction by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court on August 25 on two counts of raping female disciples in 1999.

The Haryana Police had sounded an international alert against all three.

Honeypreet, in her mid-30s, has been the closest aide of Ram Rahim since 2009. The police has been on her trail for nearly a month and raids have been conducted in Nepal, Rajasthan, Bihar and Haryana.

Honeypreet, who used to claim that she was Ram Rahim's "adopted daughter", starred as the main heroine in five films he directed, produced and acted in, in three years.

Last week, Honeypreet's former husband, Vishwas Gupta accused her and Ram Rahim of having illicit relations and said their father-daughter relationship was a sham to fool followers.

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

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