Sirsa dera head held guilty in journalist’s murder case
PANCHKULA : A special CBI court here on Friday convicted Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for conspiring to murder Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002.
Central Bureau of Investigation special judge Jagdeep Singh also held Krishan Lal, a former sect manager, Kuldeep Singh and Nirmal Singh, both carpenters and sect followers, guilty in the case. All three were present and sent to the Ambala jail. Ram Rahim appeared before the court through video-conferencing from Sunaria jail near Rohtak amid security concerns raised by the Haryana government. Sources said he looked pale with his head hung low.
The dera chief and Krishan Lal were convicted under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) read with 302 (murder) of the IPC, Kuldeep and Nirmal under Section 302 read with 120-B. Besides, Nirmal and Krishan were convicted under Sections 25 and 29 of Arms Act.
CBI counsel HPS Verma said that the quantum of sentence will be pronounced on January 17. He said the district attorney has sought time to decide on the venue, which could either be the Panchkula court or Sunaria jail as the presence of the convict is required during the pronouncement of the sentence. The maximum punishment in the case is death penalty and the minimum life imprisonment.
On October 24, 2002, Nirmal shot Chhatrapati at point-blank range from a licensed revolver belonging to Krishan on the orders of the dera head as the journalist had published an anonymous letter in his newspaper, Poora Sach, that narrated how sadhvis (women followers) were sexually harassed and raped by Ram Rahim. Chhatrapati died in a Delhi hospital on November 21.
The same CBI judge had convicted the sect chief on two counts of rape on August 25, 2017, and sentenced him to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Sarabjit Singh Waraich, the counsel of the convicts, said that they would move the high court against the decision.
Chhatrapati’s son Anshul, who pursued the case for 16 years, told reporters, “Ram Rahim ek bahut prabhavshali vyakti tha, uska ek bahut bara samarajya tha, jiske khilaf mere pitaji ne takkar li aur apna balidan diya (Ram Rahim was the influential head of an empire against which my father fought and sacrificed his life). He should be given the death sentence.”
Khatta Singh, a former driver of the dera chief who had told the court that Ram Rahim ordered the journalist’s killing, said he was satisfied that justice had been done.
QUANTUM OF SENTENCE ON JANUARY 17; CHHATRAPATI’S SON WANTS DEATH PENALTY FOR DERA HEAD