Dera chief appears in court, next hearing on Feb 4

Tribune News Service

Sirsa, January 31

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today appeared before the CBI’s special court through video conferencing from the district courts here.

The court heard the Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder, Ranjit Singh murder and Sadhvi rape cases pending against him during today’s proceedings. The court has fixed February 4 for the next hearing.

The dera chief entered the court complex amidst tight security at 9.50 am and remained there for nearly three hours. His cavalcade of vehicles left for the dera headquarters around 12.45 pm. He has been facing criminal charges in the three cases after the CBI began investigations against him on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued in September 2002 and November 2003.

All the cases are related to an anonymous letter purported to have been written by a former dera sadhvi to the President of India, the Supreme Court of India and others in May 2002 accusing the dera chief of raping her and other fellow sadhvis.

On July 10, 2002, Ranjit Singh — an ex-follower of the dera whose sister was a former sadhvi and left the dera after some differences — was murdered by some followers.

On September 24, 2002, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu notice of the anonymous letter and ordered a CBI probe into it.

Later, Sirsa scribe Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who published the anonymous letter in his newspaper ‘Poora Sach’, was attacked on October 24 by some dera followers. They called him outside his house and pumped five bullets in his body. Chhatrapati died during treatment on November 21, 2002, in Delhi’s Apollo Hospital.

On November 10, 2003, the HC directed the CBI to probe the murders of Ranjit Singh and Chhatrapati and lodge an FIR.