Chandigarh: Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday acquitted jailed man De La Sasha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim The murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002 overturned a life sentence imposed by a CBI court and dealt a blow to the investigative agency.Gurmeet was convicted of raping two female devotees and has been imprisoned in Sunaria Prison in Rohtak since August 2017, serving a 20-year sentence. He has been in prison for more than eight years in connection with the case.He also faces a separate case from the British FBI for allegedly emasculating some Dera followers. The Panchkula court is hearing the case. The HC had earlier acquitted former Dera manager Ranjit Singh in the murder case. The Supreme Court on Saturday allowed the Dera chief’s appeal against his Chhatrapati murder conviction while upholding the life sentences of the three co-accused. Anshul, the slain journalist’s son, said the family planned to challenge the acquittal in the Supreme Court. Chhatrapati is the editor of the evening newspaper Poora Sach.
He published a report alleging sexual exploitation of female disciples of Dera Sacha Sauda. Prosecutors said he was killed in retaliation for the coverage.Dera chief lawyer accuses CBI of torture, retaliationThe CBI special court in 2019 sentenced the Dera chief and three others to life imprisonment and fined them $50,000 each. Gurmeet challenged the conviction in the High Court, saying he had been wrongly accused.“Krishan Lal was tortured by the CBI. Thereafter, in retaliation, the Dera chief’s name was named as an accused,” his lawyer said.The lawyer also challenged the testimony of key witness Kartar Singh, saying the suggestion that the conspiracy was hatched in his presence and not disclosed to anyone was “disproven by the admission of IO M Narayanan in cross-examination”. The defense further argued that prosecutors failed to show that Gurmeet had any grievance against journalists. “The investigative agencies have not been able to prove even a shred of evidence that the appellant had ever read the newspaper,” the lawyer said, adding that the evening paper mainly reproduced reports already published by the morning paper.
