The Curious Case Of Honeypreet

After 38 days on the run, the incarcerated guru’s flamboyant companion is arrested—but not before some more televised histrionics

- Asit Jolly

She’s singing a whole new tune now. “I am innocent! My Papa is innocent!” Priyanka Taneja a.k.a. Honeypreet Kaur Insan told india today Television in an exclusive interview just hours before the Haryana and Punjab police squads tracked her down and arrested her at the Panchkula-Zirakpur state-line outside Chandigarh on the afternoon of October 3.

She had been on the run for 38 days, ever since the Haryana police special investigation team (SIT) posted lookout notices for her, three days after Dera Sacha Sauda adherents indulged in arson and violence following dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s conviction on August 25. The police named Honeypreet among the 43 dera functionaries accused of conspiracy, inciting violence and sedition.

Teary-eyed, Honeypreet insists she has committed no wrong. “You’ve all seen what happened. I accompanied my Papa (Gurmeet Singh) to court. There was so much security. How could I have entered (the court) without permission?” she asked. Close to breaking down several times through the nine-minute conversation, the dera chief ’s favourite ‘daughter’ admitted she was “frightened” and in a “deep depression”. The seriousness and enormity of her situation, which could well bring jail time, perhaps finally dawning on her, Honeypreet said, “They are accusing me of deshdroh (sedition)!”

But just hours away from being arrested, Honeypreet also retained some of the brazenness she’s often been accused of. Asked about some dera followers, including her former husband Vishwas Gupta, accusing her of ‘inappropriate’ relations with Gurmeet Singh, Honeypreet bristled: “Who are these people? Does anyone even know them? They are nobody!”