Gurmeet Ram Rahim, chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, was acquitted in a 22-year-old murder case today, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court citing  lapses in investigation and lack of solid evidence against the accused.

The court also listed the areas in which investigation was “tainted and sketchy” — including the weapon used for the murder, ballistic reports, post-mortem report, and polygraph test which did not bear out the prosecution claims in the murder of former sect manager Ranjit Singh.

Influenced by media glare, the investigating officer(s) “carried out a tainted and sketchy investigation into the crime,” said the bench of Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Lalit Batra.

The case “is a stark portrayal of the necessity of Courts of law making an incisive and objective analyses of the evidence as exist on record,” the judges said.

Ram Rahim is serving a 20-year-sentence for raping two of his disciples and has a 16-year-old murder case against him as well.

Ranjit Singh was killed allegedly for his suspected role in the circulation of an anonymous letter, which said how women were being sexually exploited by Ram Rahim at the Dera headquarters.

Ram Rahim, who was accused of conspiracy, and four others were convicted by a CBI court in Panchkula, Haryana, in October 2021 and given life imprisonment. He is currently in jail at Haryana’s Rohtak.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim’s conviction in 2017 in the rape cases sparked massive violence and arson in parts of Punjab and Haryana. Thirty people died, more than 250 were injured and the Army had to be called in.

Chandigarh:

Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim was today acquitted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the murder case of a former Dera official. Ranjit Singh, former manager of the Dera, was shot dead in 2002. It is alleged that the murder was linked to his suspected role in circulating an anonymous letter that narrated how Ram Rahim was sexually exploiting women at the Dera headquarters in Haryana’s Sirsa.

In 2021, a CBI court convicted Ram Rahim and four others in the murder case and sentenced them to life imprisonment. The 56-year-old Dera chief had challenged this conviction in the high court. The four others convicted by the CBI court have also been acquitted today. 

The controversial Dera chief is in jail after being convicted of raping two sadhvis at the dera and in the murder case of journalist Ram Chander Prajapati, who had reported extensively on the sexual assault allegations against the influential Dera chief.

The Dera Sacha Sauda had made headlines after shocking allegations of sexual assault surfaced against Gurmeet Ram Rahim and the CBI started investigating the matter. In 2014, a decade after the probe began, the Dera chief claimed he was impotent, but the court rejected this. His conviction in 2017 sparked violence and arson in several areas. Thirty people died, over 250 injured and the Army had to be called in to bring the situation under control. Ram Rahim is now serving a 20-year-jail term and has challenged his conviction in the high court.