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Ex-CBI officer re-examined in journalist Chhatarparti’s murder case, supports prosecution
Khatta Singh, former driver of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, is the main witness in the murder case against the dera chief.
A former Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officer was re-examined before the trial court in Panchkula on Monday, days after the Supreme Court accepted the plea of two accused facing murder charges along with Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, to summon the officer.
Accused Kuldip Singh and Inder Sen had submitted a plea to recall former DIG of CBI, Mulinja Narayanan, who had investigated the murder of former dera manager Ranjit Singh and journalist Ram Chander Chhatarparti.
CBI counsel HPS Verma said Narayanan was cross-examined and recorded his statement before the CBI court in Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder case.
“During the cross-examination, his statements supported the prosecution. He was re-examined on his previous statements on Khatta Singh, which were recorded before the court, including documental evidence during the challan,” the CBI’s counsel said.
He said the former Central Bureau of Investigation officer will now be re-examined in Ranjit Singh murder case on Tuesday.
The petitioners had requested the Supreme Court to allow them to recall Narayanan to verify the changes made by Khatta Singh in his freshly recorded statements.
Khatta Singh, former driver of rape convict Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, is the main witness in the murder case against the dera chief.
In May 2018, he told the Panchkula CBI court that Ram Rahim had ordered his men to eliminate Sirsa-based local journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, in his presence.
Khatta Singh was among CBI’s most important witnesses after the agency filed chargesheet in both these murder cases in 2007.
He however turned hostile and favoured the dera chief in his statement during his testimony in the CBI court in 2012.
Days after Ram Rahim’s conviction in a rape case, he suddenly resurfaced, pleading before the CBI court that he had earlier turned hostile due to “threats from Ram Rahim and his goons”.
He was recalled as witness, after his plea for fresh testimony was allowed by the Punjab and Haryana high court on April 23 this year.
Chhatrapati was shot from point-blank range at his residence on October 24, 2002, months after his local Hindi newspaper ‘Poora Sacch’ published an anonymous letter narrating how women finding solace in the Dera as sadhvis were sexually harassed and raped by the Dera chief.
