BREAKING| Punjab & Haryana High Court Acquits Dera Chief Gurmit Ram Rahim in 2002 Journalist Chhatrapati Murder Case

The Punjab & Haryana High Court today acquitted the Dera Sacha Sauda Chief in Chatarpati murder case.

The Bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal pronounced the judgment on the appeals filed against the conviction.

In its decision, the Court upheld the conviction and life sentence of the other three accused — Kuldeep, Nirmal, and Krishan Lal. The Central Bureau of Investigation court had earlier convicted all of them and sentenced them to life imprisonment in this case.

A CBI court in 2019 held Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and three others guilty of murdering journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002.

All the four accused had been convicted after special CBI Judge Jagdeep Singh pronounced the verdict here.

Chhatrapati was shot in October 2002 outside his house after his newspaper 'Poora Sach' published an anonymous letter narrating how women were being sexually exploited by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.

The case was registered in 2003 and handed over to the CBI in 2006.

Ram Rahim was named the main conspirator in the case. He is currently serving 20 year sentence for the rape of two female disciples. In 2024, the High Court had acquitted him in the case concerning the murder of Dera Manager Ranjith Singh.