Nirmal Baba

Nirmal Baba (Nirmaljeet Singh Narula) is an Indian spiritual leader who is known for his public discourses and has several followers in Indian subcontinent and around the world. His discourses are broadcast on multiple television channels across India & several other countries. Nirmal Baba Show is an event in which Nirmal Baba addresses his followers and communicates with them.

In February 2014 he was slapped with a ₹3.5-cr service tax evasion charge. The Allahabad High Court has ordered the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in May 2017 to investigate allegations that Nirmal Baba's TV programs are encouraging superstition and blind faith.

Life

Nirmal Baba, (Nirmaljit Singh Narula), was born in 1952 in Samana, Punjab, near Patiala in Punjab. Nirmal Baba's schooling was from Samana, Delhi and Ludhiana respectively. He is married to Sushma Narula and has a daughter and a son.

Nirmal Darbar

Nirmal Darbar used to be the name of the Samagam corresponding to each public meeting of Baba. This show was broadcast by approximately 40 different channels including AXN, TV Asia, News24, SAB TV and more.During these Darbars, he makes public appearances and converses with aggrieved devotees who usually narrate their personal, social or financial worries to him. He then, asks questions to diagnose what has stopped "kirpa" (God's kindness) from flowing in the devotees' lives. He advises them on those issues publicly and suggests "solutions" to make "kirpa" (God's kindness) flow in the devotees' lives again thereby solving their problems. The solutions that Nirmal baba suggests are usually related to the daily lives of people. Nirmal Baba also claims to save his devotees from negative effects of black magic and evil spirits. The tagline of the show was "Yantra chale na tantra mantra, na rahe dukhon ka ghera, Bhagya uday ho jayega jab ho, Nirmal Baba aashirwad tera," meaning "Even when objects representing aspects of divine and mystical hymns and sounds having special meanings fail, good luck can be awakened in a person's life by blessings of Nirmal Baba." 

Kite Festival

The International Kite Festival takes place in katara, Doha and attracts visitors from many international destinations with 2 days of frenziedly wind-driven flying, culture and art, both ground-based and air-based. Katara has developed a kite festival tradition with its advantages of spacious beach and steady winds for kite watchers to enjoy the visual feast in the sky.

There is also another Kite festival in MIA Park where people sit down to watch the sky filled with thousands of kites. Every year at the Katara esplanade, internationally recognized Kiting Pilot teams from India, USA, China, South Korea and Japan boast their kiting skills. In addition, families enjoy a great variety of fun activities that included kiting workshops, face painting, street painting and much more.

During the Kite festival week, the seafront and nearby markets will be flooded with kite buyers and sellers. The kite shops will be open 24 hours a day with buyers and sellers negotiating and buying in bulk. Furthermore, many families in the outskirts of the city start making kites at home and setup small shops in their own homes.

The kite festival will be a day filled with activities and celebrations including kite flying, traditional food, dancing, live music, face painting for kids and storytelling.

History

The tradition of kite flying in Qatar has a history of over 100 years, crowned by the inception of the International Kite Festival. Kites are ubiquitous in Qatar and are made of whatever the children can catch their hands on. The art of professional kite-making is passed down generations, where master artists include styles and motifs unique to their workshops. Kites displayed in the festival have several meanings and are exquisitely beautiful. Kite-fighting (slashing the string of an opponent’s kite) is also considered very seriously and it’s addictive. However, there is no serious element in MIA park kite festival – no glass-powdered strings or anything, but it is a way to get families outdoor and having fun in a very authentic nod to the Qatari culture.

Doha Kite Festival, one of the top kite festivals in the world, is held at katara cultural village, and kicks off with a vibrant opening ceremony that incorporates traditional Qatari music, dances and of course colorful kite displays. Attracting top kiting pilot teams from across the world, the festival demonstrate ancient Qatari kites as well as the newest models made with contemporary materials and technologies.

Hordes of kite-flying fans from Qatar as well as around the world visit the Festival to soak up in the full flavor of the action. Watch out for all thekites and once they are united in the sky, soaring and swooping, the kites showcase the artistic craftsmanship of their creators, and present a feast for the eyes of all the visitors.

How to Go?

Katara is a cultural village in Doha and it is located on the eastern coast between the Pearl and West bay. Katara is located just after the Doha Exhibition Center. After the exhibition center, Turn left and take a U turn at the first possible location. Then take the first left and there you are, in Katara.

The MIA Park is located on the Corniche which runs around the west bay. The park is within walking distance of Souq Waqif and only 15 minutes drive from Hamad International Airport.

The route 76 bus stops just outside the museum gate whereas the best way to get to the museum is by taxi or car. The museum parking area has a taxi rank - taxis can also be hailed outside the museum’s front gate, on the Corniche.

A day at the Kite Festival

Everywhere in Doha there are high-rise buildings, housing communities and new shopping malls under construction is getting increased; definitely a country that wants to re-define itself as developing economic, techno savvy country however still the government is intended to stick to its age old tradition. So they are investing in festivals, activities and events to promote their culture. The Kite festival was something to be amazed with and no expense is spared. The fly field in katara is small while MIA park is large enough to hold many more kites than the visitors flew in last year festival. Spectators were given free toys and delta kites. There will be food vendors in the park; games for the children, a late night movie on an enormous out-door movie screen and a RC car track. On the festival day, the colorful kites hovering over whole of the park brighten up the skies. The kites-with-lights flown add to the fancy of the festival. One can not only feel the liveliness of people during these festivals, but can even get a wide exposure of culture of the country as these fairs and festival offer visitors with a holistic view of the heritage and art of Qatar.

Things to Remember

     There is enough parking in Katara, but the entry will be bottlenecked. So go early in the morning.

• Loads of kids went missing in last year kite festival. So watch out for the kids.
• Entry to the grounds is free.
• There will be trained volunteers on call throughout the festival to guide the visitors, drive ambulances, or even rappel down buildings to save thousands of birds wounded by the kite strings.
• Best sea view, nice track and surrounding lovely greeneries which will be a great escape from the chaos of the city.

Rampal BaBa

Rampal is an Indian religious leader of Kabir panth, often described as a self-styled godman. He is the founder of a Satlok Ashram, a socio-spiritual movement popular in Haryana state. His sect prohibits temple visits, idol worship, untouchability, adultery and "vulgar singing and dancing", among other things.

According to Rampal, the Hindu trinity along with their parents have misled people into illusion instead of the worship of Sat Purush (the ultimate god). He instead recommends worshipping Kabir as the supreme god. He claims that all the major religious scriptures — including Vedas, Gita, Quran, Bible and Guru Granth — name Kabir as the supreme god. He claims to be a spiritual successor of Kabir, and some of his followers consider him an incarnation of Kabir.

In 2006, Rampal criticised Arya Samaj. This resulted in violent clashes between the followers of two sects, in which an Arya Samaj follower was killed. Rampal was charged with murder, and arrested. After spending several months in jail, he was released on bail in 2008. In November 2014, after he failed to appear in the court multiple times, the court ordered his arrest. However, the presence of thousands of followers, allegedly confined by his aides, prevented the police from arresting him for a few days. He was finally arrested on 19 November 2014.

Early life

Rampal was born Rampal Singh Jatin in Dhanana, a village in the Gohana tehsil of Sonepat district, Punjab (part of Haryana since 1966). His father Nand Lal was a farmer, and his mother Indira Devi was a housewife.

He obtained a diploma from the Industrial Training Institute in Nilokheri, and then worked as a junior engineer in the Government of Haryana's irrigation department.In 1996, he resigned from the job.

Initiation into Kabir panth

According to his official biography, Rampal was an ardent devotee of the Hindu deities Hanuman, Krishna and Khatushyam. He states that he never achieved salvation, well-being or peace as a result of this devotion. One day, he met Swami Ramdevanand, a spiritual leader of the Kabir panth. Ramdevanand told him that he could not attain salvation through the prevalent religious practices, which were a "false web" spread by the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh, along with their parents Brahm ("Kaal Niranjan") and Durga ("Ashtangi Aadi Maya").

Rampal states that he then studied several spiritual books, including Bhagvad Gita, Kabir Sagar, Sat Granth by Garib Das, and "all the Puranas". He claims to have found evidence supporting the statements of Swami Ramdevanand in these books. He claims that he started an intense jaap (meditative repetition of naam or god's name), after which he started experiencing "mental peace and extreme happiness".

In 1994, Ramdevanand asked him to start preaching.He gained local popularity by touring Haryana as a singer of bhajans (religious songs). After being found out being careless about his work, he resigned from his job in May 1995, and became a full-time preacher. His resignation was formally accepted in 2000, with effect from 1995.

Satlok Ashram

In 1999, Rampal founded the Satlok Ashram in Karotha village of Rohtak district, drawing on his following from within the Kabir panth. At that time, he lived in Shastri Nagar of Rohtak with his wife and two sons; his two daughters had married.

During the 2000s, he established several other ashrams, and gained a number of followers in Haryana, especially in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts., which was distributed to devotees as prasad.

Deepender Deswal (2013-05-13) The Times of India.

Court case

In 2006, Rampal raised objections to certain parts of Satyarth Prakash, the central text of the Arya Samaj religious sect. He termed these parts as "impractical and anti-social". This angered the followers of Arya Samaj, who surrounded his ashram, eventually resulting in a clash between the followers of two sects on 12 July 2006.^[10]During the clash, one person named Sonu was shot dead, and 59 more were injured. Rampal was charged with murder and attempt to murder, and jailed for 22 months. His followers claim that he was falsely implicated in the case. Another complaint of forgery was filed against him a day after the 2006 clashes. According to this complaint, the sale of land for his Karontha ashram was fabricated using impersonation. Rampal's followers claim that they had no role to play in this impersonation, and the person who sold the land was at fault. The ashram was forced to vacate the land.^[9] After Rampal was released on bail in 2008, he set up his base in Barwala, Hisar. In 2009, the High Court returned the Karontha ashram to him.An appeal against the judgement was filed by Haryana government and Arya Pratinidhi Sabha, but was rejected by the apex court in February 2013.

After obtaining bail, Rampal did not appear in court regularly, for trial in the murder case. His followers were inside the karontha ashram when Arya Samaj-affiliated villagers in an attempt to attack the ashram clashed with the police protecting the ashram in May 2013, which resulted in death of 3 people and around 100 people were injured. Unable to check the villagers, the police forced Rampal followers to leave the Karontha ashram, and move to Barwala ashram. Arya Samaj activists demanded his arrest and trial. On May 14, 2014, he appeared in the Hissar court through a video link. On this occasion, his followers entered the court premises and created chaos.Sant Rampal is a controversial preacher but has large number of followers in Haryana state of India and in other parts of Northern India.

In July 2014, Rampal's followers again tried to disrupt the court proceedings. In September 2014, Rampal was asked to appear before the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Chandigarh, in a contempt of court case. The local administration imposed Section 144 and deployed 2,000 police personnel to prevent his followers from entering the city. Despite this, thousands of followers gathered in the city, although Rampal did not appear before the court.

Arrest

During 2010-14, Rampal skipped court hearings 42 times.He was given 'exemption from appearance' by the court to maintain the law and order situation which could get disturbed due to the possibility of his followers flocking the court. In 2014, the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued non-bailable arrest warrants against him. In protest, his followers blocked rail and road traffic in Ambala, Panchkula and Chandigarh on November 5. When the police tried to detain him on November 9, his armed followers, including gunmen, formed human chains outside the Satlok Ashram to prevent the police from arresting him. The police tried to initiate a dialogue, and asked him to surrender. Rampal's followers announced that the police will have to kill more than 100,000 followers before arresting him.

By 18 November, his Satlok ashram in Hisar was protected by thousands of his followers who wielded lathis, sticks and other fire arms. The ashram, where Rampal was hiding, was also protected by thousands of women devotees who blocked the road and entrance for several days, which prevented the police from entering the hideout. They were allegedly confined to the premises by his aides.More than 20,000 security personnel and police forced their way into the ashram, but they could not find Rampal for arrest. The police used earth movers to break wall on rear side of ashram to find him, but were opposed by large number of followers who injured 28 police personnel in an effort to halt their entry. The bodies of five women and 18 month old child were found in his ashram.

Rampal was arrested on the night of November 19, 2014, along with 492 of his followers, on charges including sedition, murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy, hoarding illegal weapons and aiding and abetting suicide-mongers.

On 29/8/17, Sant Rampal was found not guilty and acquitted in two cases by Hisar court, however he would continue to remain in judicial custody as the cases of murder and sedition were still outstanding.

Teachings

Rampal claims to be a successor of Kabir, whom he considers to be the supreme god.He claims that all the major religious scriptures — including Vedas, Gita, Quran, Bible and Guru Granth Sahib — name Kabir as the supreme god. Some of his followers consider him an incarnation of Kabir.

Rampal preaches against temple visits, idol worship, charity, donations, untouchability, adultery and "vulgar singing and dancing". He also asks his followers not to criticise him and to consider any critic as a liar.

Personal life

Rampal is married to Naro Devi. They have two sons and two daughters. The family lived in the Barwala ashram until the siege.

Shani Planet

Shani (शनि, Śani) refers to planet Saturn, and is one of the 9 heavenly objects known as Navagraha in Hindu astrology. Shani is also a male deity in the Puranas, whose iconography consists of a handsome dark (black) figure carrying a sword (or another weapon) and sitting on a buffalo.

Planet

Shani as a planet appears in various Hindu astronomical texts in Sanskrit, such as the 5th century Aryabhatiya by Aryabhatta, the 6th century Romaka by Latadeva and Panca Siddhantika by Varahamihira, the 7th century Khandakhadyaka by Brahmagupta and the 8th century Sisyadhivrddida by Lalla. These texts present Shani as one of the planets and estimate the characteristics of the respective planetary motion. Other texts such as Surya Siddhantadated to have been complete sometime between the 5th century and 10th century present their chapters on various planets as divine knowledge linked to deities.

The manuscripts of these texts exist in slightly different versions, present Shani's motion in the skies, but vary in their data, suggesting that the text were open and revised over their lives. The texts slightly disagree in their data, in their measurements of Shani's revolutions, apogee, epicycles, nodal longitudes, orbital inclination, and other parameters. For example, both Khandakhadyaka and Surya Siddhanta of Varaha state that Shani completes 146,564 revolutions on its own axis every 4,320,000 earth years, an Epicycle of Apsis as 60 degrees, and had an apogee (aphelia) of 240 degrees in 499 CE; while another manuscript of Surya Siddhanta revises the revolutions to 146,568, the apogee to 236 degrees and 37 seconds and the Epicycle to about 49 degrees.

The 1st millennium CE Hindu scholars had estimated the time it took for sidereal revolutions of each planet including Shani, from their astronomical studies, with slightly different results:

Sanskrit texts: How many days for Shani (Saturn) to complete its orbit?

Source	Estimated time per sidereal revolution[8]
Surya Siddhanta	10,765 days, 18 hours, 33 minutes, 13.6 seconds
Siddhanta Shiromani	10,765 days, 19 hours, 33 minutes, 56.5 seconds
Ptolemy	10,758 days, 17 hours, 48 minutes, 14.9 seconds
20th century calculations	10,759 days, 5 hours, 16 minutes, 32.2 seconds

Calendar Shani is the basis for Shanivara – one of the seven days that make a week in the Hindu calendar. This day corresponds to Saturday – after Saturn – in the Greco-Roman convention for naming the days of the week. The zodiac and naming system of Hindu astrology, including those on Shani as Saturn, likely developed in the centuries after the arrival of Greek astrology with Alexander the Great, their zodiac signs being nearly identical.

Deity

Shani is a deity in medieval era texts, who is considered inauspicious, bringer of bad luck. He is a deity who gets angry easily and one who takes thorough revenge for whatever made him upset. In medieval Hindu literature, inconsistent mythologies sometimes refer to him as the son of Sun and Chayya (shadow), or as the son of Balarama and Revati. His alternate names include Ara, Kona and Kroda.

The fig tree called Pipal in some Indian texts is the abode of Shani (while other texts associate the same tree with Vasudeva).

In 2013, a 20-foot-tall statue of Lord Shani was established at Yerdanur in the mandal of Sangareddy, Medak district, nearly 40 kilometers from Hyderabad city. It was carved from a monolith and weighs about nine to tonnes.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (born 15 August 1967) is an Indian spiritual leader, social worker, actor, director, singer and convicted rapist. He has been the head of the spiritual group Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) since 23 September 1990. The Indian Express placed Singh 96th in their list of the 100 most powerful Indians of 2015 because he has about fifty million (five crore) devotees and several politicians seek his blessings before polls.

Singh has also been involved in controversies.Mainstream Sikh leaders have accused him of insulting their faith. He has also been accused of rape, murder and forced castrations.On 25 August 2017, he was convicted of rape by a special CBI court.

Early life

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was born in August 1967 into a Jat Sikh family, at Sri Gurusar Modia village in Ganganagar district of Rajasthan. At the age of 7, he was initiated into the Dera Sacha Sauda sect by his predecessor Shah Satnam Singh.

On 23 September 1990, Shah Satnam held a satsang where he publicly conferred sainthood and succession of the spiritual leadership upon Gurmeet Ram Rahim. He is married to Harjeet Kaur and has three daughters and a son. They all use Insan as their last name. His son Jasmeet is married to the daughter of Harminder Singh Jassi, a Punjab Congress leader.His adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan is a movie actress and director.

Ram Rahim was educated in a school in his village of Sri Gurusar Modia.

Political influence

Singh is known for political clout, as his Dera has a large number of followers among Dalits and Other Backward Classes. His Dera Sacha Sauda is the only among the varoius Deras, which openly asks its supporters to vote for particular political parties.

Singh originally supported the Indian National Congress, whose government provided him with a Z+ Security status reserved for those VIPs with the most threat to their lives.Singh's son is married to the daughter of the Congress leader Harminder Singh Jassi. The Dera Sacha Sauda supported Congress in the 2007 Punjab state elections, and helped the party take control of the Malwa region.Before the 2012 Punjab state elections, the Congress leader Amarinder Singh, his wife Preneet Kaur and his son Raninder Singh visited Singh, asking him to extend his support to Congress. However, Dera's support to Congress alienated the party's Sikh vote bank. In the 2012 elections, Congress performed poorly, and Jassi lost the election. The poor performance of Congress in Malwa in 2012 was seen as a signal of the downfall of Dera's political power.

Before the 2014 Haryana state elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narendra Modi praised Singh in order to attract the Dera Sacha Sauda followers. Singh supported the BJP in the state elections, thus helping BJP form a non-coalition government in the state for the first time.In February 2015, his organisation openly supported BJP in Delhi elections, saying that he has over 2 million followers in Delhi.His organization supported BJP in the Bihar assembly election in 2015, and nearly 3000 Dera followers campaigned for BJP in the state. In 2016, the Haryana sports minister Anil Vij announced a ₹ 5 million grant to the Dera for promoting sports, in Singh's presence, leading to a controversy.

Social work

Ram Rahim has organised drives for blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol screening that have been recognized by Guinness World Records. In association with the American Society of Echocardiography, he also organized the world record for "Most Cardiac Echo Tests" On 21 September 2011 in New Delhi, Ram Rahim initiated a series of sanitation drives and also pledged his support to the Central Government's campaign. As of 2016, about 30 Mega Cleanliness Campaigns have been conducted in several states of India. On 22 May 2012 Ram Rahim laid the foundation of the Shah Satnam ji Super Speciality Hospital at Sirsa. He established a specialised disaster relief and welfare agency called Shah Satnam Ji Green-S Welfare Force Wing in 2001. Especially in the aftermath of the Odisha cyclone and Gujarat earthquake.He was apparently also working against cow slaughter

Discography

Albums

Year	Title	Lyrics	Composition	Label	Notes
2012	Thank You For That	Yes	Yes	Universal	Debut
	Network Tere Love Ka	Yes	Yes	Universal
	Chashma Yaar Ka[40]	Yes	Yes	Universal
	Insan	Yes	Yes	Universal
2013	Lov Rab Se	Yes	Yes	Universal
2014	Highway Love Charger	Yes	Yes	Universal	Album sold 3 millions copies in the first three days.became an instant hit on

Film songs

Year	Title	Songs	Lyrics	Composition	Label	Notes
2015	MSG: The Messenger	Desh, Daru Ko Goli Maro, Papa The Great, Never Ever, Never Ever remix, Rataan Bataan, Ram Ram	Yes	Yes	Sony Music India	Singh was awarded 4 Platinum Plaques from IFPI for music of this movie
	MSG-2 The Messenger	Party Dhoom Dhaam Se, MSG The Messenger, Rooh Nashiyaani, Hasin Wadiyon Mein, Sapnon Mein Aana Tera, Hule Maale Gile Chila, Party Dhoom Dhaam Se(remix)	Yes	Yes	T Series	Singh has sung in different voices
2016	MSG: The Warrior Lion Heart	Dhol Baaje, Sohna Mera Mishri Di Daliye	Yes	Yes	Zee Music	Second song unveiled in live concert admist 3.6 million fans[
2017	Hind Ka Napak ko Jawab - MSG Lion Heart - 2	Jung Hai Humri Aatankwad Se, System Hil Gaya, Thank U For That, Tujhe Paa Ke	Yes	Yes	Zee Music
2017	Jattu Engineer	Holi Ki Pichkari	Yes	Yes

Filmography

Films

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Role	Notes
2015	MSG: The Messenger	Yes	Yes	Guru Ji	Debut
	MSG-2 The Messenger	Yes	Yes	Guru Ji	Based on true events
2016	MSG: The Warrior Lion Heart	Yes	Yes	Lion Heart
2017	Hind Ka Napak ko Jawab - MSG Lion Heart - 2	Yes	Yes	Sher-E-Hind	Based on 2016 Uri attack and 2016 India–Pakistan military confrontation
2017	Jattu Engineer	Yes	Yes	Sghaint Singh Sidhu, Shakti Singh Sisodia

'MSG Online Gurukul' is future project of Singh.

Television

Ram Rahim is currently shooting his upcoming reality show Aan Baan Shaan Mera Hindustan.

Awards

Singh is a 2016 recipient of the "Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundation Award" (not to be confused with the Indian Government's Dadasaheb Phalke Award) for making movies with a social message.Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was awarded four Platinum Plaques in four categories including Vocals, Lyrics, Composition and Music Direction for music of MSG: The Messenger from IFPI.He received the Giants International Award for his social work in 2017, Singh received the Bright Award for best actor and most versatile personality. He has also been nominated for the Dronacharya Award by The Yoga Federation of India(YFI) for producing 'World Champion yogis'.

Controversies

Singh has been accused of being involved in enforcing the castration of hundreds of followers; Singh has repeatedly denied involvement.

Conflict with Sikh groups

In May 2007, Singh was accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikhs by wearing, in an advertisement, an attire, resembling the tenth and final living Sikh Guru Gobind Singh, by using a turban with a kalgi (egret feather). His followers also organised a demonstration against their alleged persecution at the hands of some religious organisations.Ram Rahim was attacked by a mob on 16 July 2007, but escaped unhurt.The Dera Sacha Sauda tendered multiple apologies, regretting confusion over the dress, and stated that it had high regard for all Sikh Gurus, Sikh religion and the entire humankind.A multi religion delegation approached the apex Sikh organisation to accept the apology.Though the Akal Takht didn't use the word "rejected" – they maintained that the apology was inadequate on several counts.

A criminal case filed against him, for hurting the Sikh sentiments, was dismissed by the Sirsa court in 2009 and Bathinda court in 2014.Counter-terrorism expert Ajai Sahni has stated that the tensions between the Sikh community and the Dera have been exploited by the pro-Khalistan elements. He has further quoted Indian military intelligence that Iknoor Khalsa Fauj, Khalistan Zindabad Force and Khalistan Commando Force have attempted to eliminate him. In a case where the Dera's followers were accused of being suicide attackers, the Dera has stated publicly that it was being targeted by vested political groups that were conspiring to defame it. The organisation has demanded a judicial probe into the allegations.

On 2 February 2008, Ram Rahim's cavalcade was attacked with explosives, injuring 11 persons.A Khalistan Liberation Force member was later arrested for the attack who confessed to arranging explosives for the attack on the Dera chief and also executing the plan along with his associates.After that, Ram Rahim was protected with Z+ security cover.

On 20 June 2008, a group of Sikhs shouted anti-Dera slogans during Gurmeet Ram Rahim's visit to the Nirmal Lifestyles mall in Mumbai. The situation developed into an altercation between the protestors and the Dera followers, and one of the Sikh protestors was killed.This led to further protests from Sikhs in Mumbai and Punjab.

On 27 September 2015, the Akal Takht accepted his apology and pardoned him, but, on observing widespread resentment and protest among Sikhs regarding his pardon, the organisation revoked the pardon on 16 October.

Rape conviction

In 2002, a female follower of Singh's allegedly penned an anonymous letter to then Prime Minister of India Atal Vajpayee accusing Singh of sexual abuse. A CBI probe was ordered into the incident on 24 September 2002. In the same year, Singh had murder charges levied against him for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who was writing articles at the time about Dera Sacha Sauda, and for the murder of Dera Sacha Sauda manager Ranjit Singh.

On 25 August 2017, a special CBI court in Panchkula, Haryana, delivered its verdict in a sexual assault case regarding a former Dera sadhvi, finding Gurmeet Ram Rahim guilty of two counts of rape. Singh was taken into custody. More than 200,000 people had gathered near the court premises ahead of the verdict in Panchkula, Haryana. Following the conviction, 30 people were killed and another 80 were injured in violent protests in parts of India with reports of widespread vandalism.

On 26 August 2017, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered the police to seize the entire properties of Gurmeet Ram Rahim's Dera Sacha Sauda to compensate for the vandalism caused in protests by his supporters.