Court adjourns hearing of case against Dera chief till Dec 22

Ambala, Dec 1 (UNI) The hearing of arguements in the murder and rape case against Sacha Sauda chief Ram Rahim Gurmit Singh was deferred to December 22 here today.

The special CBI Judge S K Saini gave the date acceding to the defence counsel's request that more time was required to study the documents.

The Dera chief stayed in the court till the judge gave his ruling after hearing arguments between the defence and the CBI counsels.

The charges against the Dera chief were to be framed on the basis of the charge-sheet filed by the CBI on July 31 last, in which the bureau had charged him of being involved in the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatarpati and former dera manager Ranjit Singh besides in a rape case of a sadhvi.

The dera chief had attended the court personally for the fourth time today under tight security provided by the district administration in view of the reports of threat to his life by Sikh radicals.

Nearly 1000 policemen, along with bomb squad and dog squad, were deployed in and around the court complex since yesterday under Ambala Range IG Police K K Sindhu. The house where the dera chief stayed last night was also under tight security.

After the hearing, the dera chief went to HUDA Colony grounds where thousands of his followers were camping since last night. He addressed them for a few minutes and left the town with a convoy of vehicles.

UNI