Ranjit Singh murder case: Dera chief and four others get life imprisonment

A fine of Rs 31 lakh has been levied on Gurmeet Ram Rahim and Rs 50,000 on the remaining accused

Special CBI court in Haryana's Panchkula on Monday awarded life imprisonment to all the accused, including Dera Sacha Sauda's Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others in Ranjit Singh murder case. A fine of Rs 31 lakh has been levied on Ram Rahim and Rs 50,000 on the remaining accused.

A few days ago, the court had held Dera Sacha Sauda chief guilty in the murder case of Dera follower Ranjit Singh.

Ram Rahim Singh is currently serving a 20 years' rigorous imprisonment for the rape of two women followers at Rohtak's Sunaria jail. He was also convicted for life for the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chattrapati.

Apart from Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the CBI court had also convicted four others -- Krishan Lal, Sabdil Singh, Jasbir Singh and Avtar Singh -- in the same case.

Ranjit Singh, a resident of Khanpur Kolian village in Kurukshetra, was murdered on July 10, 2002 when he was working in the fields of his village.

The CBI had registered the said case on the orders passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2003 and then it took over the investigation of the case which was earlier registered at Police Station Sadar, Thanesar in Kurukshetra. He was murdered for his suspected role in the circulation of an anonymous letter, which narrated how women were allegedly being sexually exploited by the sect head at the Dera headquarters.

According to the CBI charge sheet, the Dera chief believed that Ranjit Singh was behind the circulation of the anonymous letter and hatched a conspiracy to kill him.

After investigating the case for four years, the CBI filed a chargesheet in July, 2007 against six accused and charges were framed in December, 2008. During the pendency of trial, one accused died last year and trial proceedings were abated against him.