Plea seeking statements of 122 castrated followers rejected

PANCHKULA: A local CBI court rejected Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s plea seeking statements of 122 of his allegedly castrated followers in connection with forced castration case inside dera. The arguments on framing of charges against him and two others is listed for May 15.

Currently lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail for rape, Ram Rahim claimed in his plea filed in March that the CBI recorded the statement of 128 persons during a probe in 2015, who allegedly stated that they were castrated at Ram Rahim’s behest. But in the chargesheet filed on February 1 this year, the CBI placed on record statements of only six such persons and the testimony of rest of them was missing.

He also claimed that at least 20 of them admitted that they were castrated but did not support the prosecution case of forced castration. Seeking the court’s direction to place their statements on record, Ram Rahim claimed that this was vital for the fair trial of the present case and have a crucial bearing on the entire controversy.He also sought medical examination reports of two castrated witnesses who had undergone medical test in Chandigarh government hospitals.

Invoking section 91 of the CrPC, he sought fair disclosure of evidence collected during CBI investigation.

CBI OBJECTED, COURT TOO FINDS NO MERIT

CBI counsel, however, raised objection against Ram Rahim’s plea saying that the accused had no right to invoke powers under section 91 of the CrPC because the agency did not rely on the documents or statement of witnesses sought by the accused.

All evidence that it relied upon were annexed in the chargesheet duly supplied to him. It further stated that the application in question was vague and moved with ulterior motive for prolonging the trial.

Ruling in favour of the CBI, judge Kapil Rathi said the accused’s plea lacked merit.