Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, three others convicted in journalist murder case by Panchkula court

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Dera Sacha Sauda chief, and three others have been convicted in the journalist murder case by a Panchkula court on Friday. Gurmeet Ram Rahim appeared through a video conferencing for the hearing in journalist Ramchandra Chhatrapati's murder case. The 51-year-old sect head is currently serving a 20-year prison term in Rohtak's Sunaria jail for raping two of his women followers. In Punjab where there are sizeable numbers of Dera followers, elaborate security arrangements have been made in Bathinda and Ferozepur ranges. On Tuesday, the special CBI court in Panchkula had accepted the state's plea and allowed the presence of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh through video conferencing for a January 11 hearing in the murder case of a journalist.

He had been named as the main conspirator in the case which dates back to 2002. Chhatrapati was shot at in October 2002 after his newspaper, 'Poora Sach', published an anonymous letter narrating how women were being sexually exploited by Gurmeet Ram Rahim at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa. The journalist later succumbed to injuries and a case was registered in 2003. The case was handed over to the CBI in 2006