Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh acquitted in 2002 Ranjit Singh murder case: The many crimes and controversies of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief

The controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the murder case of an ex-manager of the dera, Ranjit Singh. Four other convicts were also exonerated on Tuesday (28 May).

Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who is currently in Sunaria jail in Haryana’s Rohtak for raping two of his women followers, was convicted by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in 2021 and sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder case.

Let’s look at this case and the many crimes and controversies of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief.

Ranjit Singh murder case

Ranjit Singh, a staunch follower of Gurmeet Ram Rahim and one of the managers at the dera in Haryana’s Sirsa, was shot dead in July 2002.

He was gunned down in the fields outside his village in Kurukshetra district on suspicion of being involved in the circulation of an anonymous letter that alleged “sexual exploitation of sadhvi’s” by the Dera chief.

In November 2003, the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a CBI probe into the case. The central agency registered an FIR in December of that year, naming Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, Krishan Lal, Inder Sain and Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh as accused, reported Indian Express.

The CBI court of Panchkula in October 2021 convicted the accused Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, and Krishan Lal under Section 302 (murder) read with 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Dera chief Ram Rahim, who was reportedly named the main conspirator behind Singh’s murder, was sentenced to life term, along with the other four accused.

Rape cases

In 2002, an anonymous letter was addressed to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Punjab and Haryana HC chief justice, accusing Ram Rahim of sexually exploiting women followers (sadhvis) inside the dera.

As per India Today, a young girl from Kurukshetra described her ordeal in the letter, alleging she was not the only victim of Ram Rahim.

She alleged sexual exploitation was rampant in the dera. “If the press or some government agency” were to investigate her allegations, “40 to 50 girls living on the Dera Sacha Sauda campus would come forward to reveal the truth”, reported India Today.

CBI officers tracked 18 of Singh’s victims. However, only two sadhvis agreed to testify against the Dera chief.

As the letter came to light, the High Court directed the Sirsa district and sessions judge to investigate the allegations. The case was handed over to the CBI, which filed a chargesheet in 2007.

After a decade-long delay, the special CBI court held Gurmeet Ram Rahim guilty of rape and criminal intimidation in August 2017.

Following his conviction, followers of the Dera staged violent protests in parts of Haryana and Delhi. As many as 41 people died in the clashes, mostly in Panchkula.

Ram Rahim was sentenced to prison for 20 years for the rape of his two followers. He was also ordered to pay a compensation of Rs 15 lakh each to the two victims.

Journalist’s murder

Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, who was the editor of the Sirsa-based newspaper Poora Sach, was shot dead at his residence on 24 October 2002.

His paper had published the anonymous letter revealing the sexual exploitation of women at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa.

A case was filed in the death of the journalist in 2003, and it was transferred to the CBI three years later. The self-styled godman was convicted for life for the murder of the journalist.

Other cases

The Dera chief was accused of blasphemy and he was booked in 2007 for hurting the religious sentiments of the Sikh community by allegedly imitating Guru Gobind Singh at a ceremony at the sect’s Dera in Salabatpura in Bathinda district, as per Indian Express.

He was also accused of mass castration of devotees. In 2015, the CBI registered a case against Ram Rahim on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the alleged castration of 400 male disciples.

A petition filed by Hansraj Chauhan alleged that he and hundreds of others were castrated
at the Dera headquarters after its head falsely claimed that the “castration would lead to realisation of God through him.”

In February 2018, the CBI filed a chargesheet against the Dera chief and two accomplices, Doctor Pankaj Garg and Doctor MP Singh. Ram Rahim was granted bail in the case in October of that year.

The Dera chief has also courted controversy over his multiple paroles over the years, including a 50-day parole in January. In March, the Punjab and Haryana HC told the Haryana government not to grant futher parole to Ram Rahim without its permission.

With input from agencies