HC admits Ram Rahim’s plea, stays fine recovery

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 15

Admitting an appeal filed by Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh against his conviction in the Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday stayed the recovery of Rs 50,000 fine imposed on him by the trial court.

Alleging false implication by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the case, the dera chief in his appeal submitted that the first chargesheet was filed in the matter against certain other accused and none of them named the appellant as being involved in the conspiracy.

“It is a matter of fact that the appellant was not at all named in the first chargesheet filed by state police in 2002. Krishan Lal was tortured by CBI officials. The name of the dera chief was, thereafter, included as an accused by way of revenge,” his counsel added.

The counsel further stated that the version of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s former driver and witness Khatta Singh that the conspiracy was hatched only in his presence and that he did not disclose it to anyone stood falsified by the admission of an investigating officer in his cross-examination.

As per the investigating officer, the fact that Khatta Singh was a witness to the conspiracy was known to them for the past 4-5 years and that they were after him, but he was unavailable.

The appeal was filed just about two months after the special CBI court sentenced Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and three others to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 in the 2002 murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.