Chandigarh: Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet, the adopted daughter of convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was arrested by a Haryana Police team that intercepted the vehicle she was travelling in on the Zirakpur-Patiala road Tuesday afternoon.

Panchkula police commissioner A S Chawla said, “The SIT received a specific input that Honeypreet was travelling on that road. Since she was rounded up from an area that falls under the jurisdiction of Punjab Police, we informed them before taking her in custody.”

Facing the sedition charge, in connection with the violence that led to the death of 41 people in Panchkula and Sirsa following the conviction of Singh on rape charges, Honeypreet was on the run for the last 38 days.

Sources said that a team of Haryana Police, led by an IG-ranked officer, has started questioning her at the Chandimandir police station in Panchkula. She is expected to be produced on Wednesday in a local court, where police have strengthened security.

Honeypreet was last spotted in public as she accompanied Singh in a helicopter from Panchkula to a jail in Rohtak after a CBI court held him guilty on August 25. A case was registered against her on August 26 on charges of sedition for inciting violence in Panchkula and Sirsa. Panchkula police had later issued a look out notice and procured an arrest warrant in her name.

Haryana Police sources said that when a Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by ACP Mukesh Kumar, intercepted Honeypreet, she was travelling with another woman.

Haryana DGP B S Sandhu said, “We have arrested Honeypreet, and further investigations are on.”

Panchkula police commissioner A S Chawla said, “The SIT received a specific input that Honeypreet was travelling on that road. Since she was rounded up from an area that falls under the jurisdiction of Punjab Police, we informed them before taking her in custody.”

Chawla said, “She was on the run for over 30 days. Those who helped her or provided shelter during this period will face legal action. We are also probing the role of the woman who was travelling with her.”

Chawla refused to comment on rumours that Honeypreet was arrested by Punjab Police and handed over to Haryana, but said police had already begun questioning her. He also dispelled rumours about her having turned herself in.

“It wasn’t a surrender; it was an arrest," Chawla said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Honeypreet, in an interview to a TV news channel, said she would surrender before a Panchkula court. In the interview, she said she would also file an application for bail in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

She said all allegations levelled against her were baseless. She alleged that she was being shown in bad light by the media and others. She alleged that the government had wrongly implicated her in a sedition case.  

She said she went with her father, Ram Rahim, to the court like any daughter would do, and that too, with the government's permission.

"Every daughter remains with her father, I went with him. Have you heard me saying a word where I instigate people. I had gone there (to CBI court in Panchkula) with a hope that my father will return by evening, but when he was held guilty, I went into depression, how could I think about anything else, I was totally devastated," she said.

When told that her ex-husband Vishwas Gupta and a few Dera followers had accused her of having illicit relations with Ram Rahim, she refuted the allegations. 

Priyanka Taneja alias Honeypreet, who tops the list of 43 people 'wanted' by the Haryana Police in connection with the incidents of violence that left at least 41 people dead and several injured following Ram Rahim's conviction, said she was seeking legal opinion on her next step and was likely to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court here.

"Was I present with the arsonists (during the mayhem in Panchkula on August 25), how are they levelling such allegations," she said while sitting inside a car at an undisclosed location.        

oneypreet has been on the run following the conviction of Ram Rahim in two rape cases. Haryana Police had issued a lookout notice for her.  

Honeypreet has been accused of hatching the "escape plan" of Ram Rahim after his conviction.

Honeypreet, in her thirties, accompanied Ram Rahim when he was brought to the special CBI court in Panchkula for the pronouncement of the verdict in the 15-year-old rape case on August 25.

Honeypreet was last seen with the Dera chief outside the court and in a chopper, arranged to take Ram Rahim to Rohtak jail. She had appealed to the court that she might be granted permission to stay in the lock-up with the Dera chief as a helper, which was turned down.