2002 murder: SC asks Sirsa Dera chief, others to respond to CBI plea against their acquittal

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others on the CBI’s petition challenging a Punjab and Haryana High Court order acquitting them in the 2002 murder of manager Ranjit Singh.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna asked them to respond to the CBI’s petition challenging the May 28, 2024, order of the High Court acquitting them of the murder of Dera Sacha Sauda’s former manager Ranjit Singh.

Ranjit Singh was shot dead by four unknown persons for allegedly circulating an anonymous letter highlighting alleged sexual exploitation of female followers of the sect in 2002.

The CJI said the case will be heard by a Bench led Justice Bela Trivedi which was already seized of an appeal filed by the complainant in this case.

In September last year Justice Trivedi’s Bench had agreed to examine a petition challenging the acquittal of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 Ranjit Singh murder case.

Issuing notice to Ram Rahim and four other accused on a petition filed by one Jagseer Singh challenging the May 28, 2024 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, it had asked them to file their replies.

The high court had allowed the appeals moved by Ram Rahim and others who were convicted by a CBI Special court in Panchkula in 2021.

The high court had also acquitted Avtar Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, and Krishan Lal, all of whom were awarded life sentences along with Ram Rahim.

However, despite the acquittal, Ram Rahim remained in jail as he was convicted in other cases of rape and murder.

Former Dera manager Ranjit Singh was shot by four assailants on July 10, 2002, at Khanpur Kolian village in Haryana’s Kurukshetra.

A Special CBI Court found Ram Rahim and others guilty of the murder and sentenced them to life imprisonment in 2021.

It was suspected that Ranjit Singh was murdered because of his alleged role in circulating a letter that narrated how the sect head was sexually exploiting women at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.

Local journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati later used the same letter in a news report. He was killed soon after the report was published. Ram Rahim was also convicted on the charges of murdering the journalist.