A letter started it all in 2002

PANCHKULA: It was ananonymous letter in 2002, addressed to then Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee and host of other top institutions, including Punjab and Haryana high court, that triggered investigations into the rape charges against Si rs a-based Der a Sac ha Saud a chief G ur meet Ram Rahim Singh.

Nearly 15 years on, the verdict in the case against him will be out on Friday, even as the dera chief and his supporters have continued to question the authenticity of the letter. No one so far knows the letter writer.

The three-page letter typed in Hindi, a copy of which is in possession of Hindu stan Times, narrates the ordeal of ad era sadhvi (woman follower) who charged Ram Ra him with sexual exploitation of sadhvis. The letter, which was received by the HC by post on May 5, was also addressed to the home ministry, CB I and National Human Rights Commission.

While most recipients did not react, the court directed the then district and sessions judge in Sirsa, MS Sular, to conduct an inquiry into the matter. Sula rd id not rule the possibility of such acts ind era but said nobody there was prepared to speak about the abuse, and there was no way to access the hostel where sadhvis were living, sans permission from Ram Rahim.

As the judge recommended that the matter be investigated through a central agency, the court converted the complaint into a criminal petition, and passed an order directing CBI to investigate. CBI-registered a case on December 12, 2002.

CBI faced many challenges, including stay on the probe for one and half years. Finally, they managed to trace two victims and file a chargesheet in 2007 in the special CBI court.

Claiming to be a resident of Punjab, the letter writer, an anonymous sadhvi, said two years after she had become a sadhvi, the dera chief called her into his ‘gufa’, his residence inside the dera, where he was watching TV with a revolver by his side. She alleged that she was threatened and thereafter raped by him to the utter shock of her life.