Honeypreet rejects claims of illicit relations with Ram Rahim

New Delhi, Oct 3 (IANS) Honeypreet Insan, the "adopted daughter" of convicted Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, on Tuesday rejected allegations of physical relations with him and asked people not to believe "false" stories being spread about them.

However, her estranged husband, Vishwas Gupta asserted that Honeypreet and Ram Rahim had "illicit relations" after she deserted him in 2009. He accused her of being a "liar" and of shedding "crocodile tears" to evoke sympathy.

Honeypreet alias Priyanka Taneja told India Today, "There is a pious relation between my father and me. It is a pious relation of a daughter with her father. Don't believe what is spread about me."

Projecting herself and Ram Rahim as innocent, Honeypreet asked why police registered a case against her as she was not even involved in any criminal case nor in the riots that broke out in Panchkula after the arrest of the Dera chief.

"I am not a criminal. Nor was I present in the riots nor spoke anything. I went with my father when he was convicted by court," she said.

Honeypreet said she would move the higher courts against the conviction of Ram Rahim. "He is innocent. He has not harmed even an insect. Truth will prevail and the world will see this. I'm pained and shocked. How can the world do this to us? We are great patriots and we love India. My father has been framed under charges of treason. Everything ended after he went to jail," said Honeypreet.

Asked why she was absconding, Honeypreet said: "I could not understand what I should do...First of all, I went somewhere else, then moved to Delhi and later Haryana and Punjab."

Reacting to her statements, her former husband said the Dera management supported her while she was in hiding during the last one month. "If she was pious, why was she absconding," he asked.

Referring to her pleas of innocence about her and Ram Rahim, Gupta wondered "which thief will accept that he has stolen something".

After being on the run for over a month, Honeypreet walked into the Mohali police station on Tuesday afternoon and was taken into custody by Haryana Police.

She went into hiding soon after large-scale violence broke out in different parts of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi on August 25 following Ram Rahim's conviction in two rape cases. She and other top Dera members were booked for inciting violence.

The Delhi High Court last week dismissed her transit anticipatory bail application.

There had been reports that Honeypreet had fled to Nepal following Ram Rahim's sentencing.