Dera Sacha Sauda’s Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others in murder case of sect follower Ranjit Singh were awarded life imprisonment by a special CBI court in Panchkula on Monday. Besides, a fine of Rs 31 lakh has been levied on Ram Rahim and Rs 50,000 on the remaining accused.
The special court had convicted them earlier this month in the murder case of Dera manager Ranjit Singh. The other convicted and sentenced to life in jail for the crime are Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Avtar Singh and Sabdil. One accused in the murder case had passed away a year ago.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim is currently lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail. He was earlier convicted for raping two of his disciples.
Dera’s manager Ranjit Singh was shot dead in 2002 for his suspected role in the circulation of an anonymous letter, which revealed details of how women were being sexually exploited by the dera head.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) held Gurmeet Ram Rahim the principle accused in the case. The agency, in its charge sheet, mentioned that the Dera chief suspected that Ranjit Singh was behind the circulation of the anonymous letter and therefore, hatched a conspiracy to kill him.
Ram Rahim pleaded clemency, pointing out the welfare work done by the dera. However, the CBI objected to it and demanded the “maximum punishment” under IPC Section 302.
“The counsel of some other convicts sought time stating that they are not ready with arguments as they have to go through the judgments cited by the prosecution,” CBI special prosecutor H P S Verma told reporters. On their request, he said, the court deferred the sentencing till today (October 18).
However, the court did not heed Ram Rahim’s leniency plea and awarded him life imprisonment for his role in the murder of Ranjit Singh.
This is not the first conviction and jail sentence for Ram Rahim. In 2019, he convicted and awarded life imprisonment for the murder of a journalist, Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
