Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who was on Monday awarded a life sentence in the murder case of one of his followers by a CBI court, is the head of the Indian social group Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS). Before his conviction in a rape and murder case, Singh was a well-known religious leader, actor, singer, writer, songwriter, director, and composer.

Ram Rahim has been a highly influential personality with political clout. His Dera, known to have a large number of Dalit followers was the only one among the various Deras to openly persuade its supporters to vote for particular political parties.

News outlet ‘The Indian Express’ had placed Ram Rahim 96th in their list of the 100 most powerful Indians of 2015.  

The Dera chief was sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment in August 2017 for raping two of his women followers by a special CBI court. He was also held guilty for the murder of a journalist, Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

Singh is currently lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail serving a life term. His arrest in the sexual assault case resulted in massive violence and vandalism in parts of northern India, especially Haryana, Punjab and UP.

Ram Rahim Singh has also been prosecuted for being involved in enforcing the castration of hundreds of followers, the charges he vehemently denied in court. On 5 October 2018, the self-proclaimed godman was granted bail by a Panchkula CBI court in the case involving the castration of 400 of his follower.

The Dera Sacha Sauda chief was also accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs by wearing an attire resembling the tenth and final living Sikh Guru Gobind Singh in an advertisement in 2017.

Ram Rahim is married to a woman named Harjeet Kaur and has two daughters Amarpreet and Charanpreet with her.