MURDER CASE AGAINST DERA HEAD: NEXT HEARING ON DEC 6

PANCHKULA : The special CBI court on Thursday adjourned the hearing in the case of former Dera Sacha Sauda follower Ranjit Singh’s murder to December 6. The Sirsabased dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is in jail after being convicted in two rape cases, is the prime accused in the case besides five others.

The final arguments in the case are nearly over. However, the Punjab and Haryana High court has restrained the CBI court from pronouncing the final order in the matter as it has to decide the plea of Khatta Singh, the dera chief's former driver, who wanted to record his statement in the case afresh.

The matter will be heard in HC on Friday after notices were issued to both the CBI and the defence on his plea. Ranjit Singh had allegedly developed differences with the dera head after the rape allegations against the latter surfaced. He was shot dead near his fields at Kurukshetra district’s Khanpur Kolian village on July 10, 2002.

is still awaited, the number of witnesses will go up as they will file supplementary challans. In the charge-sheet, the police claimed Honeypreet revealed the entire plot leading to the violence.

Honeypreet has been quoted in the charge-sheet telling the police that she and key dera member Aditya Insan conspired to gather dera followers and then incited them for violence with help of other dera members to free Ram Rahim after his conviction.

Lodged in the Ambala Central Jail as part of her judicial custody, she is likely to be produced in the court on Friday. The common FIR, registered at the Sector 5 police station, was later used to book and arrest core and executive committee members of the dera, including Honeypreet.