Dera chief convicted for murder of journalist

A Special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati 16 years ago.

The punishment will be pronounced on January 17.

The verdict was pronounced to Singh through video-conferencing inside Sunaria jail in Rohtak where he is currently lodged. He's serving a 20-year prison term for his conviction in two separate rape cases in 2017. Three others have been convicted in the case.

Journalist Chhatrapati was shot on October 24, 2002, in Sirsa. He had published a report in the newspaper he owned, ‘Poora Sach,’ which brought to the fore an anonymous letter narrating the sexual exploitation of women by the sect head at the Dera headquarters. The journalist succumbed to injuries in the hospital. The case was registered in 2003 and handed over to the CBI in 2006.

In May 2018, the Dera chief’s driver Khatta Singh, a rape convict, had told the Panchkula CBI court that Ram Rahim had ordered the elimination of the journalist. Dera manager Krishan had given his licensed revolver to the people who gunned down the journalist.