A Special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday awarded life imprisonment to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the murder of journalist Ramchander Chhatrapati. Three other convicts — Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal — have also been awarded life imprisonment.
Elaborate security arrangements were made in Panchkula and Sirsa — headquarters of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect headed by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh — and other parts of Haryana to maintain law and order situation, officials said.
The journalist was shot dead outside his house in October 2002 in Haryana’s Sirsa after his newspaper published a letter alleging sexual exploitation of women by Ram Rahim.
Ram Rahim was named as the main conspirator in the case.
Chhatrapati’s family had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2003, seeking transfer of the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The investigation was later handed over to the CBI which filed the charge sheet in July 2007.
(With PTI inputs)