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Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim acquitted in murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana high court in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the October 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
The dera chief, along with three others, was initially convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula on January 17, 2019. The trial court had awarded life imprisonment to the accused and imposed a fine of ₹50,000.
However, a high court bench led by chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Vikram Aggarwal set aside the conviction of Ram Rahim while upholding the guilty verdict against at least two other accused in the case.
The bench delivered its decision in open court on Saturday morning. The detailed judgment explaining the reasons behind the acquittal is expected to be issued later today.
The 2002 murder case
Chhatrapati was shot at point-blank range at his residence on October 24, 2002. The killing came months after the newspaper published an anonymous letter describing how women who joined the dera as sadhvis were sexually harassed and raped by the dera chief.
On January 17, 2019, the special CBI court in Panchkula sentenced Ram Rahim and three others to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000. The dera head and the other accused challenged the order in 2019, claiming they had been falsely implicated.
Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year sentence in two rape cases from 2017 and is lodged in Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak. On August 25, 2017, more than 40 people were killed and dozens were injured after violence erupted in Panchkula and other towns in Haryana between Ram Rahim’s followers and security forces after he was convicted in the rape case.
In May 2024, the high court acquitted him in the 2002 murder case of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh. He is also named in several FIRs linked to the 2015 sacrilege incidents that are still under investigation in Punjab.
Notably, Ram Rahim was released from jail in January this year after he was granted a 40 day parole. This was not the first time the self-styled godman received parole, as his temporary releases earlier had also sparked political criticism and security concerns.
With inputs from agencies
