‘Satisfied that CBI did a fair probe, did not bow down to any pressure’
Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati’s son recounts the events of the fateful day his father was killed; says his family fought a 16-year-long battle to bring the killers to justice
CHANDIGARH: It was on May 30, 2002 that a Sirsa-based vernacular “Poora Sach’’ brought out by a locally well-known journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, then 52, published an anonymous letter narrating how women finding solace in the Dera Sacha Sauda as sadhvis were sexually harassed and raped by the Dera chief. He was a marked man for the hugely influential Dera men, ever since. Chhatrapati faced a series of threats from the dera men and even informed the local administration, seeking security but was shot by them outside his house on October 24 evening that very year. He succumbed to his bullet injury three weeks later at Apollo hospital, New Delhi.
Recalling the fateful day, Anshul, 37, the eldest son of the slain scribe, said, “I remember that evening with a heavy heart. I along with my sister Shreyasi, then 15, and brother Arigaman, then 13, were inside when we heard some noises and a gunfire. I rushed out and saw my father in a pool of blood. We rushed him to a hospital in Sirsa but he was later referred to Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak,
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The dera head was a very influential person with a huge empire against which my father fought and sacrificed his life. ANSHUL, Ram Chander Chhatrapati’s son
and finally Apollo Hospital in New Delhi where he died on November 21, 2002.”
Ram Chander, as several Sirsa and Fatehabad-based journalists remember him, was a well-off farmer with a keen interest in literature and journalism.
“Before starting his own paper, he used to contribute to several newspapers,” recalls Fatehabad-based journalist RK Sethi.
It was because of his zeal to fight injustice that Ram Chander published the said anonymous letter which was addressed to the Prime Minister, following which he started getting threats. Yet he continued to publish reports whenever there was violence or other irregularities committed at the behest of dera men, Sethi recalls.
The distressing story took another turn when Anshul stepped out to seek justice for his father but faced disappointments one after the other.
“Only we and some of the journalists who stood by us know how depressingly difficult it was for us to fight for justice all these years,” Anshul recalls, adding that the saddest part was that they were failed by those (the political parties in power all these years) who were otherwise supposed to get us justice.
“Gurmeet Ram Rahim ek bahut prabhavshali vyakti tha, uska ek bahut bara samarajya tha, jiske khilaf mere pitaji ne takkar li aur apna balidan diya (the dera head was a very influential person with a huge empire against whom my father fought and sacrificed his life),” he said.
“Though Haryana police lodged a complaint and probed into the matter, Gurmeet used his influence and its charge-sheet would nowhere have his name at any point of the case. It was in January, 2003 that we moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court which ordered a CBI probe on November 10, 2003. It is very satisfying that the CBI did a fair probe and did not bow down to pressure from any quarters,” he said.