Presence of public prosecutor at trial beyond suspicion: CBI
CHANDIGARH: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has backed one of its public prosecutors, KP Singh, appearing in a murder case involving Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim, and told Punjab and Haryana high court that his presence at the trial is beyond suspicion as being the regular public prosecutor of the court, he, as well as senior/special public prosecutors, can assist it.
It says the court will have to be fully satisfied that an impartial trial is not possible before transferring the case. “It is equally important to verify that the apprehension of not getting a level-playing field, is based on some credible material and not just conjectures and surmises,” the CBI has underlined.
On Tuesday, the high court had restrained a special CBI court, Panchkula, from pronouncing the final verdict in the murder case.
The high court bench of justice Arvind Sangwan acted on the plea of victim Ranjit Singh’s son, Jagseer Singh, who had sought directions for the transfer of the case to any other court in the region. The CBI special judge, Sushil Kumar Garg, was to pronounce the judgment on August 26 but now the case stands deferred for August 31.
Ram Rahim is one of the accused in the murder of Ranjit Singh, committed in 2002. As per CBI, Ranjit Singh was murdered as Ram Rahim suspected that he was behind the circulation of an anonymous letter claiming sexual exploitation of female disciples on Dera premises.
The son had questioned adjournments granted by the CBI judge a number of times since his joining in April this year and alleged KP Singh has been interfering in the “administration of justice” and is “influencing” the entire proceedings despite the fact there are two other special public prosecutors appointed for the trial.
The CBI special judge has also submitted his comments, which court has kept in a sealed cover and said that counsels for various parties could only inspect them.
The CCTV footage of the court complex too has been submitted before the high court. The matter will now be taken up on September 2.