(Image source from: Lokmattimes.com)
Gurmeet Ram Rahim, the leader of Dera Sacha Sauda, has been acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court of the murder of a former Dera official. The victim, Ranjit Singh, was a state-level committee member and was killed in 2002. The murder was believed to be connected to an anonymous letter that accused Ram Rahim of sexually exploiting women at the Dera headquarters. The CBI court had convicted Ram Rahim and four others in 2021 and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The court had stated that it was convinced that Ram Rahim was upset by the letter and had conspired with the other accused to kill Singh. Ram Rahim, who is 56 years old, had appealed against this conviction in the high court, which has now acquitted him and the four others. Ram Rahim is currently in jail, having been convicted of raping two sadhvis at the Dera and of the murder of journalist Ram Chander Prajapati, who had reported on the sexual assault allegations against him.
After allegations of sexual assault against Gurmeet Ram Rahim surfaced, the CBI launched an investigation. Despite the Dera chief's claim of impotence in 2014, which was rejected by the court, it took a decade for the probe to conclude. In 2017, Ram Rahim's conviction resulted in violent outbreaks and arson across multiple areas, resulting in 30 deaths, over 250 injuries, and military intervention. Currently serving a 20-year jail term, Ram Rahim is appealing his conviction in the high court. His lawyers maintain his faith in the judiciary and welcomed the recent judgment.
