Punjab and Haryana High Court acquits Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in 2002 murder case
The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others, who were convicted in the murder case of a former Dera official, Ranjit Singh.
A CBI court had convicted Ram Rahim and four others in 2021 in the murder case of Singh, who was a member of the Dera’s state-level committee, and was shot dead in 2002. Rahim was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case.
It was alleged that Singh’s murder was linked to his suspected role in circulating an anonymous letter that narrated how Ram Rahim was sexually exploiting women at the Dera headquarters in Haryana’s Sirsa district.
The special court held that it was proved beyond reasonable doubt that the 56-year-old Dera chief was aggrieved by the circulation of the letter and conspired with the other accused to kill Ranjit.
Rahim challenged this conviction in the high court. The four others convicted by the CBI court were also acquitted today.
The 56-year-old is currently in jail after being convicted of raping two sadhvis at the dera and in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Prajapati, who had reported extensively on the sexual assault allegations against the influential Dera chief.
The Dera chief had claimed in 2014, around 10 years after CBI strted probing the case, that he was impotent. However, the court rejected his argument. His conviction in 2017 had sparked violence and arson in several areas. The 56-year-old is currently serving a 20-year jail term.