Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was acquitted of murdering his former manager

The Supreme Court delivered the verdict while allowing an appeal by 56-year-old Gurmeet Ram Rahim against his conviction.

In 2021, a CBI court sentenced Ram Rahim and four other accused to life imprisonment for plotting to murder the Dera manager in 2002. The other four accused in the case were Avtar Singh, Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh and Sabdil Singh. One of the accused died during the trial.

The controversial chief of the Sirsa-based sect had challenged the CBI’s conviction in the Supreme Court.

“The Supreme Court has acquitted him in the Ranjit Singh murder case,” said the Dera chief’s lawyer, Jitender Khurana.

Two rape cases

Gurmeet Ram Rahim is currently lodged in Sunaria Jail in Rohtak serving a 20-year sentence after being convicted in the rape of two sadhvis in the Dera and in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Prajapati.

Prajapati had reported extensively on the allegations of sexual assault against the influential Dera chief. While Ram Rahm was acquitted in the Ranjit Singh murder case, his appeal in the journalist’s murder case is still pending.

The murder of Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh, the former manager of Dera Sacha Sauda and also a follower of the sect, was shot dead on July 10, 2002 in Khanpur Kolian village in Kurukshetra, Haryana. According to the CBI chargesheet, Ram Rahim suspects that Ranjit Singh was the one who circulated a letter exposing cases of sexual abuse of the female students by the Dera chief.

The CBI court had said that it was proven beyond doubt that Ram Rahim was hurt by the distribution of the letter and that he, along with other accused, had planned the murder of Ranjit Singh.

On October 18, 2021, the court sentenced Ram Rahim and four others to life imprisonment in the case. The Dera chief was fined Rs 31 lakh.

Allegations of sexual assault in Dera

Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa, Haryana, made headlines when shocking allegations of sexual assault against Gurmeet Ram Rahim emerged.

The CBI launched an investigation and ten years after the investigation began in 2014, the Dera chief claimed that he was impotent. However, the court rejected this claim. After his conviction, a large crowd of his supporters clashed with the police.

No more probation for Dera boss

Recently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked the Haryana government not to grant further parole to Dera Sacha Sauda chief and rape convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh without his permission.

The court also directed the Haryana government to provide details in an affidavit of “how many persons with such criminal records and convictions in three cases have been granted this benefit”.

The court passed these directions on to the Haryana government in a case filed by the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee in 2023 challenging the frequency with which Ram Rahim was granted parole.