HC restrains CBI court from passing final order till Oct 31

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court on Friday restrained the CBI court in Panchkula from passing the final order in the two murder cases against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh till October 31.

The order comes in response to a petition by Khatta Singh, Ram Rahim’s former driver, who has urged the court to allow him to depose against the dera chief. He moved the high court after his plea in this regard was dismissed by the Panchkula court.

The HC also issued notices, returnable on October 31, to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the accused in the Ranjit Singh and Ram Chandra Chattrapati murder cases on the application of Khatta Singh, said his counsel Navkiran Singh.

Khatta had earlier been roped in as CBI’s crucial witness after Ram Rahim and his men were booked for allegedly killing dera member Ranjit Singh and Sirsabased journalist Ram Chander Chattrapati, who exposed the nefarious activities of the dera chief in his daily eveninger ‘Poora Sach’.

Khatta had then claimed that he was privy to some meetings wherein Ram Rahim had ordered his men to eliminate Ranjit and Chattrapati. Khatta later turned hostile in the court, denying any knowledge of the dera chief’s involvement in these cases, and accused the CBI of pressuring him to depose against the selfstyled godman.