Dera follower murder case: 25 days before incident, victim had got himself insured

Bhartesh Singh Thakur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 8

Just 25 days before his murder, the victim, who was once a staunch Dera Sacha Sauda follower, got himself insured for Rs 5 lakh. He was facing continuous threats from the dera men, asking him to apologise to Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, a self-styled godman, for allegedly circulating a letter revealing sexual exploitation of women followers. He knew he would be targeted but refused to apologise.

The victim, a staunch follower of the dera since 1972-73, was a member of a 10-member dera committee formed to oversee its religious activities in Haryana.

In 1997, the victim had admitted his daughters to a dera school for studies. His sister joined there as a ‘sadhvi’ in 1999 and was a teacher at dera’s Shah Satnam Girls School, Sirsa.

Ram Rahim had raped his sister twice. In 2000, when she told about the abuse to her brother, he asked her to remain quiet and promised that he would soon take

her away. Later, he withdrew his daughters and sister around April 2001.

The victim’s brother-in-law stated before the special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court that he told him that the dera was no more being run by religious people as women were allegedly being sexually exploited on the premises. The victim had further said he had wasted about 25 years of his life.

In 2001, the victim stayed at the dera for just two days during the annual “bhandara” (a ritual), while earlier he used to spend 15-20 days.

In May 2002, a letter, alleging sexual exploitation of women followers inside the dera, started circulating. It was addressed to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was published in newspapers too. The letter mentioned that a ‘sadhvi’, who belonged to Kurukshetra, had left the dera premises and her brother, who was a staunch follower, had also stopped visiting the place. As the reference was made about the victim and his sister, the dera men started suspecting him to be behind the letter. He was summoned to the dera on June 16, 2002.

The victim’s father told the court that as he was apprehending danger to his life, so he got himself Rs 5 lakh LIC policy a day before i.e. on June 15, 2002.

After coming back from the dera, the victim told his father that he was threatened by Inder Sain, Avtar Singh, Jasbir Singh, dera manager Krishan Lal and one Darshan Singh to apologise to Ram Rahim for the circulation of the letter or he would be killed. He apprehended that their house could be set on fire.

On June 26, 2002, three persons — Krishan Lal, Jasbir, and Sabdil — came to meet the victim at his house, threatened him again and asked him to apologise.

Meanwhile, the victim’s daughter had told the court that once she had received a telephone call from Krishan Lal in June 2002, who enquired about his father. When she told her father about it, he got perplexed and told her not to receive any call from the dera men. The victim had shared

his fears with his brother-in-law too. A neighbour of the victim told the court that Sabdil and Jasbir had come to threaten him again on July 6, 2002.

Eyewitnesses’ account

• On July 10, 2002, victim’s neighbour Sukhdev Singh went to meet the former’s father to enquire about labourers
• When the victim was returning, four armed men came out of sugarcane fields and shot him dead
• Sukhdev and the victim’s father chased the attackers, who fled in a white car. But the duo identified Jasbir and Sabdil
• Another eyewitness Raj Pal, while approaching the victim’s fields, saw Jasbir, Sabdil and Krishan Lal fleeing the spot

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