E-Paper
Ranjeet Singh murder case: HC judge recuses from hearing
A Punjab and Haryana high court judge has recused from hearing a plea seeking transfer of trial against Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the Ranjeet Singh murder case
A Punjab and Haryana high court judge has recused from hearing a plea seeking transfer of trial against Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the Ranjeet Singh murder case.
Justice Arvind Sangwan recused from hearing on Thursday while recording that it has come to his notice that in the year 1986-1988, he had represented Ranjit Singh and his father in a civil suit in Kurukshetra. Now, the case has been transferred to the chief justice for placing it before some other judge. It was on August 24 that justice Sangwan had restrained a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court, Panchkula, from pronouncing the final verdict in the murder case, two days before the final order.
He had acted on the plea of Ranjit Singh’s son, Jagseer Singh, who had sought directions for the transfer of the case to any other court in the region.
Ranjit Singh was murdered in 2002. As per the CBI, he was murdered as Ram Rahim suspected that he was behind the circulation of an anonymous letter highlighting sexual exploitation of female disciples on the Dera premises. The son had questioned adjournments granted by the CBI judge a number of times since joining and also levelled allegations against CBI public prosecutor KP Singh for “interfering” in the “administration of justice” and “influencing” the proceedings. The CBI has denied allegations against its public prosecutor.
