Honeypreet tells TV channel 'devastated', 'depressed' by violence accusations

Chandigarh: Jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s adopted daughter Honeypreet Insan, who has been on the run for over a month, says she is “devastated” by allegations that she incited the Panchkula violence. She told a TV news channel that her “Papa” was innocent and that his conviction on August 25 in two rape cases has left her “depressed”.

Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet, who tops the list of 43 people ‘wanted’ by the Haryana Police in connection with the incidents of violence that left at least 41 people dead and several injured following Ram Rahim’s conviction, said she was seeking legal opinion on her next step and was likely to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court here.

Honeypreet, 36, against whom a lookout notice and later an arrest warrant was issued by the Haryana Police, told AajTak that allegations levelled against her are not true. “Was I present with the arsonists (during the mayhem in Panchkula on August 25), how are they levelling such allegations,” she said while sitting inside a car at an undisclosed location.

On being asked about her image being portrayed as a “villain”, a “conspirator”, Honeypreet replied, “How are they making me an accused. I was there with my Papa (Ram Rahim) and discharging my duty as a daughter (on August 25).”

“Every daughter remains with her father, I went with him. Have you heard me saying a word where I instigate people. I had gone there (to CBI court in Panchkula) with a hope that my father will return by evening, but when he was held guilty, I went into depression, how could I think about anything else, I was totally devastated,” she said.

Honeypreet had accompanied Ram Rahim from sect headquarters at Sirsa to a special CBI court in Panchkula on August 25. After Dera chief’s conviction on that day, she also accompanied him in a chopper when he was flown to Rohtak to be lodged in a jail.

There has been no trace of Honeypreet after the evening of August 25. However, she said she was not running away from law and was still trying to come to terms that Ram Rahim had been sentenced. She also said she was “devastated” when she was made an accused in incidents of violence.

“Try to understand what my condition was. The woman who used to make patriotic films with his father (Ram Rahim), the woman in whom her father had infused spirit of patriotism over the years, he goes behind bars, which was unthinkable for me. And for that very woman to hear that sedition charges have been slapped, I was devastated. I was completely shaken to hear such serious charges when in my life I have not even killed an ant,” she said.

“I was not even knowing what legal process means. For me, when Papa went away (was jailed), my world came crashing down. I was devastated mentally. Then the way some guided me, I went to Delhi…Now, I will go to the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” Honeypreet said.

On September 26, the Delhi High Court had dismissed the transit anticipatory bail plea of Honeypreet Insan. The court’s order was based on the grounds that she has been evading arrest and hence was not entitled to any discretionary relief. On being asked where she had been hiding for so many days after she left Rohtak, she said, “..later, I went to Delhi. Now, I will go to Punjab and Haryana High Court”.

She said that she has “full faith” in the judiciary and will get justice. Responding to the allegations levelled by her ex-husband Vishwas Gupta surrounding her relations with Ram Rahim, Honeypreet said, “I cannot understand how anyone can point fingers at pious relations that are there between a father and his daughter. What proof have these people got to level such allegations. All those who are spreading such rumours, please do not believe them.”

On being asked about these allegations being levelled by some “key people” of the Dera and her ex-husband, Honeypreet said, “are they key people. Does anyone know them, who are they. As regards Vishwas Gupta, I do not want to talk about him.”

On being asked about skeletons being buried inside the Dera at Sirsa and the sect chief’s exploitation of some female disciples, Honeypreet said, “Did anyone find skeletons. As regards what is being said about my Papa, he is innocent and in times to come you will see this..”

Honeypreet, who also acted in a few films along side the jailed Dera chief, said she never had any desire to be a heroine in the films or enter Bollywood. The Haryana Police has been conducting searches at various locations to trace Honeypreet and two other key Dera functionaries.

The Haryana Police had earlier said that a court in Panchkula had issued arrest warrants against Honeypreet Insan, Dera spokesperson Aditya Insan, and Dera’s top functionary Pawan Insan in connection with the incidents of Panchkula violence.

Honeypreet, had earlier been booked at Sector 5 police station in Panchkula. The police added her name in FIR number 345 as an accused in connection with the violence. Her name has been included in the same FIR in which other Dera functionaries Aditya Insan and Surinder Dhiman, among others, had been booked for allegedly inciting violence and arson, the police had said earlier.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim was convicted by the special CBI court in Panchkula on August 25, following which violence and arson had erupted in Panchkula and Sirsa districts of Haryana. He is currently lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district of Haryana. Several teams of the Haryana Police have travelled across the country, including the Indo-Nepal border, to trace Honeypreet.