Dera chief Ram Rahim Singh had planned escape after conviction.

Dera chief Ram Rahim Singh had planned escape after conviction.

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh who was sentenced to 20 years in jail on Monday for raping two of his followers, had allegedly planned to escape after his conviction by a Panchkula-based CBI court on Friday, a senior police officer said today. The planning involved use of codes through which the violent followers were to be informed of Dera chief's conviction. On signal, followers, whose numbers ranged in lakhs, began the rampage in the city. A senior police officer of Indian Reserve Battalion, KK Rao, told India TV that Ram Rahim Singh planned to use the violence as a distraction to escape with the help of state police commandos.