Ram Rahim Acquitted in Journalist Murder Case by High Court

Chandigarh: In a major legal development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, overturning his earlier conviction and life sentence.

The sect leader had been convicted by a special CBI court in Panchkula in 2019 along with three others for the killing of the journalist. The court had sentenced them to life imprisonment for their role in the murder. However, the High Court has now set aside that verdict after hearing the appeals filed against the conviction.

Confirming the development, Ram Rahim’s counsel Jitender Khurana said the court had acquitted the Dera chief in the case related to the killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

The case dates back to October 2002, when Chhatrapati, editor of the Hindi newspaper Poora Sach, was shot outside his residence in Sirsa, Haryana. The attack came shortly after the newspaper published an anonymous letter alleging sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters.

Chhatrapati was critically injured in the attack and later succumbed to his injuries in November 2002. The case eventually came under investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which led to the conviction of Ram Rahim and others in 2019.

Despite the acquittal in this case, Ram Rahim continues to remain in prison. He is currently serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in 2017 for the rape of two women disciples and is lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana.