Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was accused of castrating his followers and now, one of his followers has opened up about a horrifying incident. Hansraj Chauhan, who was a Dera Sacha Sauda devotee, spoke about the time when he underwent a surgery.
In 2000, Chauhan, who was then 19 years old, drank a glass of Pepsi after which he slipped into unconsciousness. He was then taken to a hospital in Rajasthan's Sri Ganganagar where he underwent a surgery. Two days later, when he woke up, he found out that his testicles were wrapped in bandages.
"I was among other men who were surgically castrated at the behest of Baba (Gurmeet Ram Rahim). The surgeons, all under the spell of Baba, cut open my scrota and removed the testes. Since then I have undergone severe hormonal changes that resulted in the loss of facial hair and gynecomastia," Chauhan told The Quint from Tohana village in Haryana.
The daily also has Chauhan's medical report, which says, "His scrotal sacs were found to be empty, no testes present and that linear scars horizontally placed, measuring approximately 1 inch on both sides of... the scrotal sac."
After the surgery, Chauhan moved to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to expose Singh. In 2014, the high court concluded that Chauhan was castrated, possibly at Singh's order.
"There is definite averment that castration was at the instance of the 5th respondent (Gurmeet Ram Rahim) and he had undergone mutilation of the testicles on a practice of deception and promise by the 5th respondent that such an act would pave (the) way for realisation of God. The medical examination conducted through (the court) on express orders have filed that the petitioner has no testicles and he may have been castrated by surgery," the high court said.
Chauhan also revealed that in 2000, Singh decided that the brahmacharis at his ashram in Sirsa, Haryana, should not be allowed to get married or have sexual activity. So, he assigned two doctors to manage the castration of some of the devotees.
"Baba would himself indulge in debauchery. We knew about it, but we could do nothing. We did not have the courage to question or expose him," Chauhan said, adding, "All the young men and women would be brainwashed with the aid of strange substances and sermons. We would gradually lose the power of rational thinking. We would experience a kind of mind paralysis that would make us incapable of taking right decisions."
