The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
The verdict was delivered on Saturday by a division bench headed by Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal. The court set aside the conviction and life sentence that had been awarded to Ram Rahim by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula in January 2019.
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However, the high court upheld the convictions of three other accused in the case.
Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati was shot outside his residence in Sirsa, Haryana, in October 2002. Chhatrapati was the editor of the local newspaper Poora Sach, which had published an anonymous letter alleging sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.
The journalist succumbed to his injuries several weeks later. The case was initially handled by local police before being transferred to the CBI in 2006. The agency later named Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh as a conspirator in the murder.
Ram Rahim’s lawyer, Jitender Khurana, confirmed the acquittal following the high court ruling. Despite the acquittal in this case, the controversial sect leader will remain behind bars.
He is currently lodged at Sunaria jail in Rohtak, Haryana, where he is serving a 20-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2017 of raping two disciples.
The decision has drawn criticism from the victim’s family. Anshul Chhatrapati, the journalist’s son, described the verdict as a major setback and said the family plans to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court. He added that they expect the CBI to also appeal against the acquittal.
This marks the second time the high court has cleared Ram Rahim in a high-profile murder case from 2002 linked to the Dera. In May 2024, the court acquitted him and four others in the murder of former sect manager Ranjit Singh, citing flaws in the investigation.
