Dera Saccha Sauda and Gurmeet Ram Rahim: A Decade-Long Investigation

How did a nondescript young man from a farming family become the head of a quasi-religious sect with a million followers, willing to die and kill for their Pitaji ? The story of the rise of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insaan Maharaj of the wildly popular Dera Saccha Sauda, was anything but ordinary. It allegedly involved gory murders, sexual exploitation, forced castrations, private militias, illegal trade in arms and opium, and land grab at an untold scale, until the self-styled godman was convicted for one of his many crimes in August 2017. The book originates in 2007 from the firstever journalistic investigation into the reported criminal activities at the Dera. In the years since, the author continued to document those waging lonely battles for justice against the powerful godman. This book is as much about the grit and determination of ordinary citizens fighting power systems, as it is about the depravity of a man and how he was ultimately brought to justice.