Court dismisses ex-driver’s plea

Court dismisses ex-driver’s plea

Rajinder Nagarkoti

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, September 25

Giving major relief to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the Special CBI Court in Panchkula today dismissed the application filed by his ex-driver Khatta Singh, who had sought permission to depose again in murder cases against the dera head.

While the CBI had favoured Khatta Singh’s plea to depose again in the murder trial against Ram Rahim, the defence had opposed his application on the grounds that his testimony was not reliable.

Dera chief’s counsel SK Garg Narwana said they had submitted in court that the application was moved by Khatta Singh five years after his earlier statement in 2012 and therefore, the court should not consider the plea.

Today, the court dismissed Khatta Singh’s application, Narwana said. CBI counsel HPS Verma said the court would continue arguments in Ranjit Singh murder case tomorrow.

Khatta Singh, a former driver of the dera chief, had told the investigating agency in 2007 how he was privy to a meeting between the dera chief and five of his men before Ranjit Singh was murdered in his village in Kurukshetra district on July 10, 2002.

He had also claimed to have heard Ram Rahim telling his men to eliminate Ram Chander Chhatrapati, editor of a Sirsa-based newspaper, as he had been continuously exposing the dera’s nefarious activities. However, he had turned hostile during his testimony in the CBI court in February 2012, denying that he had any knowledge about the dera chief’s involvement in these cases.