The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chiefGurmeet Ram RahimSingh in 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.
"The court has acquitted him in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati," Khurana said, as quoted by PTI.
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.
Chhatrapati 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.
Singh and three others were convicted in 2019 for the murder of the journalist in Haryana's Sirsa.
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Ram Rahim was again granted a 40-day parole last month. Prior to his latest parole, Singh has come out of prison 14 times since being convicted in 2017.
His latest parole comes months after he was granted a 40-day parole in August last year. Besides parole in August last year, he was also granted a 21-day furlough in April and a 30-day parole in January, ahead of the February 5 Delhi assembly polls.
Similarly, he was allowed a 20-day parole on October 1, 2024, days before the October 5 Haryana assembly polls.
In August 2024, Singh was granted a 21-day furlough. He was also permitted a three-week furlough from February 7, 2022, barely two weeks before the Punjab assembly polls.
Source: India Latest News, Breaking News Today, Top News Headlines | Times Now
