Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others were on Monday sentence to life imprisonment by a special CBI court in the murder case of one of his disciples. The special court in Panchkula had convicted the accused of the murder of Ranjit Singh on October 8.
The other four accused are Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Avtar Singh and Sabdil.
“The court has sentenced five to life imprisonment,” PTI quoted CBI special prosecutor H P S Verma as saying.
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The court also directed Ram Rahim to pay a fine of Rs 31 lakh, while the other convicts will pay Rs 1.5 lakh (Sabdil), Rs 1.25 lakh (Krishnan) and Rs 75,000 (Avtar), NDTV reported. Half of this amount
Ram Rahim will also pay a ₹ 31 lakh fine. The other convicts will also pay fines – Abdil has been told to pay ₹ 1.5 lakh, Krishnan and Jasbir must pay ₹ 1.25 lakh each and Avtar must pay ₹ 75,000. Half of the fine will be directed to Ranjit Singh’s family.
The dera chief – who has been lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria jail since his conviction in 2017 for raping two disciples – had appeared for earlier hearings through video-conferencing, while the other four were present in the court.
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One more accused in the murder case had passed away a year ago.
Former dera manager Ranjit Singh, who was also a follower of the sect, was shot dead in 2002.
He was murdered for his suspected role in the circulation of an anonymous letter, which narrated how women were being sexually exploited by the dera head.
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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.
In 2017, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to 20-year imprisonment for raping his two disciples.
Over two years ago, he was also awarded life imprisonment for the murder of a journalist, Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
