Chandigarh, May 28 : In a significant legal development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others in the 2002 murder case of the sect’s former manager, Ranjit Singh.
A division bench comprising Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Lalit Batra delivered the verdict on the appeals filed by Ram Rahim Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, Krishan Lal, and Avtar Singh, who had challenged their conviction by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.
“The high court has acquitted Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others in the Ranjit Singh murder case,” confirmed the Dera chief’s lawyer, Jitender Khurana.
Ram Rahim, the head of the Dera with its headquarters in Sirsa, is currently serving a 20-year jail term for raping two of his disciples and is lodged in Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak.
In October 2021, the CBI court in Panchkula had convicted Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, and Krishan Lal for murder and criminal conspiracy under Section 302 read with Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court also found Ram Rahim, Avtar Singh, and the aforementioned individuals guilty of criminal conspiracy and criminal intimidation under Section 120B read with Sections 302 and 506 of the IPC. Additionally, Sabdil Singh was convicted under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959. They were all sentenced to life imprisonment.
Ranjit Singh, a manager at the Dera in Sirsa, was shot dead on July 10, 2002, at Khanpur Kolian village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district. The case was initially registered at Thanesar police station and was later handed over to the CBI on the orders of the high court on November 10, 2003.
According to the CBI chargesheet, Ram Rahim suspected Ranjit Singh of circulating an anonymous letter that accused him of sexually exploiting women followers (sadhvis) inside the Dera. This letter had also been highlighted by journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who was subsequently murdered in 2019. Ram Rahim and three others were convicted for Chhatrapati’s murder the same year.
In 2017, Ram Rahim was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for raping two disciples, leading to his current incarceration in Sunaria jail.
