CBI court to pronounce quantum of punishment for Gurmeet Ram Rahim, three others today in journalist murder case

A special CBI court in Panchkula on Thursday will pronounce the quantum of punishment for Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, convicted in the murder of journalist Ramchander Chhatrapati, along with three others, through video conference. Security has been beefed up in Panchkula and other parts of Haryana in view of the announcement. Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim will be produced in court through video conference from Sunaria jail in Rohtak, where he is currently serving a 20-year prison term since 2017 for raping two of his women followers. Three others convicted in the journalist’s murder case will also be produced in court from Ambala jail through video conference. [caption id=“attachment_4031263” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Gurmeet Ram Rahim. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] The CBI court on Wednesday accepted the plea of the Haryana government, which had sought appearance of the 51-year-old sect head through video conferencing during the pronouncement of the quantum of sentence for the murder of journalist Ramchander Chhatrapati, said CBI counsel HPS Verma. Verma said the counsels of all the four convicts will be in present in court when the quantum of sentence will be pronounced. On 11 January, special CBI court judge Jagdeep Singh had  convicted the self-styled godman and three others — Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal — in the murder case. All four were convicted under Section 302 (murder) and Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal were also convicted under the Arms Act. The state government had filed the plea on Tuesday, citing that the movement of the Dera chief could lead to a law and order situation. Chhatrapati was shot outside his house in Haryana’s Sirsa city in October 2002 after his newspaper Poora Sach published an anonymous letter narrating the alleged sexual exploitation of women followers by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at the Dera headquarters in the city. The Dera chief 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 CBI. The investigation was later handed over to the CBI which filed a chargesheet in July 2007. With inputs from agencies