The Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in connection with the 2002 murder case of a journalist, sect head's lawyer Jitender Khurana said on Saturday.
The court acquitted the Dera chief more than seven years after he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, news agency PTI reported.
"The court has acquitted him in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati," Khurana was quoted as saying.
What's the journalist murder case?
Ram Rahim Singh and three others were convicted in 2019 for the murder of the journalist in Haryana's Sirsa.
Ramchandra Chhatrapati, a Sirsa-based journalist, was shot outside his house in October 2002 after his newspaper 'Poora Sach' published an anonymous letter narrating the alleged sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.
In 2019, a Special CBI court found Ram Rahim guilty and pronounced life imprisonment in the case.
Along with Ram Rahim, three other convicts — Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal — were also found guilty in the murder case and were awarded life imprisonment.
The court had also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 each.
On Saturday, March 7, a division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court delivered the verdict, acquitting Ram Rahim.
However, Singh is also serving a 20-year jail term, given in 2017 for raping two of his disciples. Following his conviction in the case, he was lodged in the Sunaria jail in Haryana's Rohtak.
In 2024, the Punjab and Haryana High Court acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief and four others in the 2002 murder case of a former Dera official.
