HC acquits Dera Sacha Sauda chief in 2002 journalist murder case 7 years after conviction

Chandigarh, Mar 7 (PTI) The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of a journalist, seven years after he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the case by a special CBI court.

The 58-year-old Dera chief is currently lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria jail, where he is serving a 20-year jail term given in 2017 for the rape of two of his disciples. In May 2024, the High Court had overturned another special CBI court order and acquitted Ram Rahim and four others in the 2002 murder of the sect's former manager, Ranjit Singh.

Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati was shot outside his house in October 2002 in Haryana's Sirsa after his newspaper 'Poora Sach' published an anonymous letter narrating the alleged sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.

The journalist later succumbed to injuries, and a case was registered in which Ram Rahim was named as a conspirator. The case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2006. Ram Rahim and three others were convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in January 2019. He had challenged the conviction before the high court.

"The high court division bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu on Saturday acquitted him (Ram Rahim) in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. The bench, however, has upheld the conviction of three others in the case," sect head's lawyer Jitender Khurana said.

A detailed order is awaited.

The journalist's son, Anshul Chhatrapati, described the HC verdict as a "setback" for his family, which has been fighting a long legal battle, and said they will challenge it in the Supreme Court.

"Whatever legal remedies we have, we will use them. We will challenge this verdict in the Supreme Court. We expect that the investigating agency, CBI, would also challenge the high court verdict," he said.

It was contended by the defence counsel that the first charge sheet against three other accused was already filed and none of them named the appellant as being involved in the conspiracy.

However, the CBI and the counsel representing the deceased journalist's family had strongly opposed the sect head's plea.

In the high court, the defence counsel had also claimed contradictions in the ballistic evidence in the case.

In May 2024, the High Court had acquitted Ram Rahim and four others in the murder of the sect's former manager, Ranjit Singh, citing "tainted and sketchy" investigations. Earlier, the special CBI court had sentenced them to life imprisonment in this case and held Ram Rahim guilty of hatching a criminal conspiracy with the co-accused.

In the past, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), apex religious body of the Sikhs, and some other Sikh organisations have objected to the grant of frequent parole and furlough to Ram Rahim, some of which have coincided with polls.

Singh came out of prison for the 15th time in January since he was convicted in 2017. He had walked out of the Sunaria jail in Rohtak after he was granted a 40-day parole and stayed at his Sirsa-headquartered Dera during the period.

He was granted a similar parole in August last year.

On many of the occasions in the past, when Singh was out of jail, he remained at the Dera's ashram in Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat district.

The Dera chief was also granted three weeks' furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab Assembly elections.

In October 2024, he was granted a 20-day parole which came days before the Haryana Assembly polls.

The Sirsa-headquartered Dera Sacha Sauda has a number of followers in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other states. In Haryana, the Dera has a sizeable number of followers in many districts, including Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar. PTI