Chandigarh, May 26 -- The incarcerated chief of the Sirsa based sect Dera Sacha Sauda head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was granted a 30-day parole on Monday-the 16th temporary release he has received since 2020. The controversial head, designated as convict 8647/C in prison records, has already spent 406 days out of the confines of Rohtak's Sunaria prison during his 3,193 days (about eight years and eight months) of his sentence so far. Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year jail term at Sunaria prison after being convicted by a special CBI court in 2017 for raping two women disciples. He was subsequently convicted in two murder cases and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019 for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and in 2021 for hatching a conspiracy to kill Dera manager, Ranjit Singh. However, the Punjab and Haryana high court acquitted him in the Ranjit Singh murder case in 2024 and in the journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder case in 2026. With the grant of 30 days of parole, the dera head has exhausted his 10-week parole period for the 2026 calendar year, as mandated under the Haryana Good Conduct Prisoners (Temporary Release) Act, 2022. He was earlier granted 40 days of parole in January. The law entitles a prisoner to 10 weeks of parole cumulatively in a calendar year (January to December), which could be availed in two parts. The law also permits temporary release of three weeks on furlough which could not be availed in parts. However, the dera head can avail three weeks of furlough this calendar year. When a prisoner is on parole, the release period does not count towards the total period of sentence. However, when a prisoner is on furlough, the release period counts toward the total sentence served. Thus, the period of sentence spent on furlough by the prisoner need not be undergone, as is the case with parole. According to the 2022 law, once Ram Rahim would complete three-fourths of the total sentence in a term (in this case, the rape conviction) he can avail of four weeks of furlough, but not in parts....