Chandigarh: Haryana police have arrested Govind, a member of the state body of the Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, for allegedly inciting violence on August 25 in Panchkula after sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted in rape case.
Meanwhile, efforts continued to trace the Dera chief's adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan, against whom a lookout notice was issued earlier.
Govind, a senior member of the Dera Sacha Sauda, was present at the Hafed Chowk, the epicentre of the violence in Panchkula on August 25, the police said today, adding that he has been accused of inciting violence.
"We arrested him from Zirakpur," Panchkula Police Commissioner, A S Chawla said on Sunday. Chawla added that the police were still looking for two key Dera Sacha Sauda functionaries, Honeypreet and Aditya Insan.
"We are at the job and hopeful of nabbing them soon," he said.
The Haryana police had earlier sent a team to Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh bordering Nepal in search of Honeypreet, a close confidante of the self-styled godman who is serving a 20-year-old jail term for raping two disciples.
The police had on September 1 issued a lookout notice for Honeypreet and Aditya, fearing that they could flee the country.
"We are conducting raids at various places and our teams have gone to different areas to trace them," Chawla said.
Earlier, Dera Sacha Sauda management too had appealed to the two to cooperate with the police.
Sirsa-headquartered Dera chairperson Vipassana Insan had said that Honeypreet and Dera spokesperson Aditya Insan should help the investigations.
She had claimed that the Dera had no contact with them.
Chawla said the police initiated efforts to trace Honeypreet, the adopted daughter of Ram Rahim Singh, who describes herself as "Papa's angel", after it arrested and questioned another sect functionary, Surinder Dhiman Insan, in connection with an alleged conspiracy to help Ram Rahim escape after his conviction by the special CBI court in Panchkula.
Chawla said that police needs to question Honeypreet regarding the disclosures made by Surinder Dhiman and some other arrested accused.