Chandigarh, March 7 – The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday overturned the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the head of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, and acquitted him in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
This acquittal came just over seven years after Ram Rahim was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder case.
However, the appeals filed by two other accused in the matter were dismissed by the bench comprising Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal, who upheld the findings against them.
Despite the acquittal in the murder case, Ram Rahim will continue to be in prison as he is currently serving a sentence following his conviction in a separate case of rape.
The High Court's decision came weeks after the bench undertook a detailed examination of the evidence presented in the case.
The scrutiny was prompted by controversy surrounding the bullets that were allegedly used in carrying out the crime, which became a key point during the court's review of the material placed on record.
In 2019, a special court had convicted Ram Rahim along with three others for the murder of journalist Chhatrapati. The killing had occurred more than 16 years before the verdict was delivered, drawing widespread attention due to the long delay between the crime and the conviction.
Ram Rahim has also been in the public spotlight since his conviction in a rape case in 2017. Since that conviction, he has been granted temporary release from prison on 14 separate occasions.
During most of these periods of release, he stayed at the Dera Sacha Sauda's ashram located in Uttar Pradesh's Bagpat district.
The Dera Sacha Sauda organization, headquartered in Sirsa, commands a large following across several northern states, including Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and other regions.
Within Haryana, the organization is known to have significant influence in districts such as Sirsa, Fatehabad, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Hisar, where its followers form an important social base.