Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh reached Panchkula to appear before a CBI court in a convoy of hundreds of vehicles on Friday afternoon.

The 50-year-old Dera head left the sect-headquarters at Sirsa, about 260 km from Chandigarh, at about 9 am amid tight security.

“He left Sirsa by road,” Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Prabhjot Singh said over phone.

The Dera chief, who enjoys ‘Z’ category security, is also being accompanied a number of his own security guards in a cavalcade.

It will take him around three hours to reach the court, a police official said.

A special CBI court at Panchkula is set to deliver its verdict on Friday in a 2002 sexual exploitation case against the Dera head. The court is expected to pronounce verdict at around 2.30 PM.

Amid tension ahead of the verdict, the Dera head has appealed to his followers to maintain calm and peace.

Thousands of ‘premis’, what Dera followers are popularly known, have descended in Panchkula, which has virtually turned into a fortress.

The sexual exploitation case was registered against the Dera chief in 2002 by the CBI on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after anonymous letters were circulated about the alleged sexual exploitation of two ‘sadhvis’ (female followers) by Ram Rahim Singh.

The Dera chief, however, has denied these charges.

Security agencies in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh have been on their toes in the wake of court order, officials said.

Prohibitory orders have already been clamped in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.