Newsinc24 Team
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.Ram Rahim Singh's lawyer, Jitender Khurana, confirmed the acquittal. The Bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal pronounced the judgment on the appeals filed against the conviction. In its decision, the Court upheld the conviction and life sentence of the other three accused — Kuldeep, Nirmal, and Krishan Lal. The Central Bureau of Investigation court had earlier convicted all of them and sentenced them to life imprisonment in this case.
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.
