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No doubt Ram Rahim was actual beneficiary of Ranjit Singh’s death: CBI court
CBI court also took into account Ranjit Singh’s sister testimony, no personal enmity between him and other accused, and the life insurance policy bought by the victim a little before his murder
There is no doubt to the fact that Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who was feeling aggrieved by the circulation of the anonymous letter on sexual exploitation of sadhvis of Dera Sacha Sauda, was the actual beneficiary of shutting the mouth of Ranjit Singh for ever, the CBI special court has said.
It said that other convicts who have been found to be directly involved in the murder had no personal enmity with the family of Ranjit Singh, another factor that points to the involvement of Dera head.
Khatta Singh, a controversial but key witness in the case, has given eyewitness account of the conspiracy hatched for murder and reason that it was due to letter on exploitation of sadhvis. His testimony became clinching evidence in this case even as Khatta Singh, who once served as driver of Dera head, at one point of time had turned hostile. The court said that his testimony deserves acceptance if it is evaluated in its entirety coupled with the facts and circumstances of the case and the pressure on him due to influence the Dera chief enjoyed.
The 365-page conviction judgment and 46-page sentencing order elaborates on account of 60 prosecution witnesses and twist why it deserved to be accepted.
The court also took note of testimony of Saroj, sister of Ranjit Singh, who had stated that Ranjit had confided in her how he is facing threat from Dera as they suspected that he was behind circulation of the letter in question. She had also stated that Jasbir Singh and Sabdil Singh had been visiting Ranjit’s house prior to the occurrence.
Ranjit’s father Joginder Singh had also deposed that Sabdil and Jasbir told Ranjit that accused Gurmeet Ram Rahim was unhappy and that he wanted him to apologise for his act otherwise he will be killed.
“..it emerges out that it was the origin and circulation of the anonymous letter in question, which the Dera people were inquiring,” the court said adding that since it was circulated by the Taraksheel Society, and a member of society was a co-villager of Ranjit Singh, Dera suspected Ranjit Singh’s hand behind it. Further, there was reference to exploitation of a Kurukshetra girl, suspected to be Ranjit’s sister.
“It is crystal clear that the Dera people were having full suspicion about the involvement of Ranjit Singh in the origin and circulation of the anonymous letter in question and they had openly threatened to eliminate Ranjit Singh,” the court said.
It also stood proved that Ranjit was summoned to the Dera and was asked to apologise, which he refused and resulted in conspiracy to kill him, an account corroborated by Khatta Singh. The fact of Ranjit getting an insurance policy in June 2002, a month before the murder, was another evidence that he feared for his life at the hands of the Dera head.
