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New Delhi: The Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (Dera Baba) in the murder case of his former manager Ranjit Singh, as confirmed by his counsel on Tuesday. Ranjit Singh was reportedly killed in 2002. Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Lalit Batra delivered the verdict, overturning the previous conviction. “The high court has acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others in the Ranjit Singh murder case,” stated Jitender Khurana, the lawyer representing Ram Rahim.
Previously, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (Dera Baba), along with four others – Avtar Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, and Krishan Lal – had been sentenced to life internment by CBI court in 2021 for their roles in the murder. Ram Rahim had appealed against the
judgement leading to the case being heard by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Currently, Gurmeet Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year jail term in Sunaria prison in Rohtak after being found guilty of raping two of his disciples. He has also been convicted of the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and received a life sentence. The Dera Sacha Sauda sect, headquartered in Haryana’s Sirsa, gained notoriety in 2002 following allegations of sexual assault against Gurmeet Ram Rahim.
Ranjit Singh, a follower of the sect, was shot dead on July 10, 2002, at Khanpur Kolian village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra. As CBI chargesheet, he was reportedly murdered due to suspicion of his involvement in circulating an anonymous letter exposing cases of sexual exploitation of women followers by the sect head at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.
The CBI court, in its ruling against Ram Rahim and others, concluded that the Dera head conspired to murder Ranjit Singh after feeling aggrieved by the circulation of the letter. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in a separate matter, directed the Haryana government not to grant further parole to Ram Rahim without the court’s permission.
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