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Chhatrapati murder case: HC takes up dera head’s appeal second time
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday took up the appeals from Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, and others in the October 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, second time after reserving the appeals for final order, in September 2025.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday took up the appeals from Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim, and others in the October 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, second time after reserving the appeals for final order, in September 2025. Earlier, the case was listed for hearing on February 5 by the bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal owing to “emergence of new facts” and “clarifications” about forensic reports of murder weapon and bullets seized by the CBI. The appeals filed in 2019 were reserved for final orders on September 25, 2025.
When case was taken up on Tuesday, the bench closely scrutinised the case property to see whether the fired “Lapua” soft-lead bullet reportedly bearing the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) expert’s marking and signature could have been accessed when the plastic container carrying it was said to be sealed with intact AIIMS, New Delhi seals.
The court after examining it with magnifying glasses observed that “nothing is visible on these bullets” and sought clarity from the CBI on whether the signature referred to the deposition on the bullet or on the container.
Explaining this, the CBI counsel had submitted that the FSL expert’s deposition before the trial court was “very clear” that he had “opened it up and the signatures are there on the bullet”.
The CBI counsel further sought to clarify that “Lapua bullet”, is an imported bullet having a soft lead. It is used for the purpose of shooting and has extreme accuracy. “..a normal bullet will not have soft lead. This is a soft lead. Therefore, engravings or markings as mentioned by the FSL expert in his deposition might not visibly persist over time,” the CBI counsel had submitted, adding that as far as the container is concerned, the signatures are there.
It was further submitted that only the FSL expert could tell about the visibility or existence of signatures especially given the passage of nearly 23 years and the soft-lead nature of the projectile.
On the other hand, Ram Rahim’s counsels submitted that the bullet recovered from Chhatrapati’s body during the post-mortem examination remained sealed from the time of recovery until it was opened in court. They questioned how the bullet was ever examined by the FSL expert, when it was produced in court with the hospital seal still intact. It was further claimed that the bullets allegedly recovered did not match the revolver allegedly used in the offence.
After a brief hearing, the appeals have been reserved again for the final orders by the special bench.
Chhatrapati was shot from point-blank range at his residence on October 24, 2002, months after the paper published an anonymous letter narrating how women finding solace in the dera as sadhvis were sexually harassed and raped by the dera chief.
On January 17, 2019, the special CBI court, Panchkula, sentenced Ram Rahim and three others to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000. Dera head, and others had appealed against the order in 2019 claiming false implication.
Ram Rahim has been sentenced to 20 years in two rape cases (2017) and lodged in Sunaria jail of Rohtak. However, the high court in May 2024 had acquitted him in the case of the murder of former dera manager Ranjit Singh in 2002. He is also an accused in multiple FIRs related to 2015 sacrilege incidents pending a probe in Punjab.
