Gurmeet Ram Rahim Cleared By High Court In 2002 Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati Murder Case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday cleared Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

The verdict comes more than seven years after a special CBI court had found him guilty and awarded him life imprisonment.

According to Ram Rahim's lawyer, Jitender Khurana, the High Court set aside the earlier judgment of the trial court and acquitted him of all charges linked to the journalist's murder.

Background of the 2002 Journalist Murder Case

In 2003, the family of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, requesting that the investigation into his murder be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court later approved the request, and the case was handed over to the CBI. After conducting its investigation, the agency filed a chargesheet in July 2007.

Later, in August 2017, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was brought to a court in Panchkula, where a CBI judge delivered the verdict in a separate rape case against him.

Ram Rahim was already serving a 20-year prison sentence for the rape of two of his followers. In 2019, a special CBI court in Panchkula further sentenced him and three others to life imprisonment for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, ordering that he remain in jail for the rest of his life.