Chandigarh/Rohtak: Haryana government has given parole for 30 more days to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Dera Sacha Sauda Pramukh had to serve 20 years in prison for raping two female students. Tuesday’s release was his 16th parole since 2020 and his second after a 40-day parole from January 5 this year. Ram Rahim, convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in 2017 and jailed since August that year, has spent more than 400 days out of jail since he left custody for the first time on a day off in October 2020. He came out of Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail at around 6.30 am and left for the Dera headquarters in Sirsa in a convoy of eight luxury vehicles. He is scheduled to return to jail on June 24. Sources said that after the approval of the District Magistrate, the authorities approved his stay in Sirsa. The Dera spokesperson said the sect chief has been released “as per his legal rights”. Under jail rules, convicts can avail parole for up to 10 weeks annually. Time spent outside prison on parole is added to the sentence period and is not counted as time spent in prison. Convicts sentenced to more than 10 years are also entitled to three weeks leave annually, which counts towards the sentence served. Combined, parole and furlough can keep a convict out of jail for up to 98 days a year, although such relief depends on a number of approvals and discretion exercised by authorities. He was also convicted in the murders of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh and journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, although he was later acquitted in both cases by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.