The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others in a case of the murder of former Dera official Ranjit Singh in 2002.
In 2021, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court found Ram Rahim and 4 other accused guilty of the murder of Ranjit Singh, one of the managers at the Dera in Haryana’s Sirsa. Singh was murdered on July 10, 2002.
A division bench of the High Court comprising by Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Lalit Batra allowed the appeals filed by Ram Rahim Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, Krishan Lal and Avtar Singh against the conviction order by CBI.
According to The Indian Express, in October 2021, the CBI court of Panchkula found Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, and Krishan Lal guilty of murder under Section 302, in conjunction with criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Additionally, Dera Chief Ram Rahim, Avtar Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, and Krishan Lal were convicted under Section 120B of the IPC in conjunction with Sections 302 and 506 (criminal intimidation). The court also found Sabdil Singh guilty under Section 27 of the Arms Act, 1959.