Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh: From 'Godman' to convictions & life term for rape & murder

Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others have been sentenced to imprisonment for life pursuant to the killing of a disciple, Ranjit Singh, in 2002. On October 8, a special CBI court in Panchkula awarded the punishment to Ram Rahim Singh, Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Avtar Singh and Sabdil in the Ranjit Singh murder case. The Dera chief, presently lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district, was convicted in August 2017 against rape charges of two women disciples and sentenced to a 20-year jail term which led to intense violence wherein 36 people are said to have lost their lives and Section 144 of the CrPC was imposed. 

Ram Rahim Singh had been sentenced to life imprisonment in relation to the murder of a journalist named Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002 who hailed from Sirsa. Notably, the Punjab and Haryana HC had dismissed a plea seeking transfer of the case to another judge. 

Cases against Ram Rahim Singh:

Murder case of Ranjit Singh

A staunch follower of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and one of the managers at the Dera in Sirsa, Haryana, Ranjit Singh, was shot dead on July 10, 2002. The act was carried out based upon his alleged role in the circulation of an anonymous letter, which narrated how women disciples had been regularly sexually exploited by the head of the Dera sect at their headquarters. Following this, the journalist Chhatrapati, who published the news report, was murdered. The CBI charge sheet enumerates that Ram Rahim Singh had hatched the conspiracy to kill him and was responsible for the above-mentioned circulation.

Rape charges on Ram Rahim Singh

In 2002, a sadhvi (female disciple) from the Dera Sacha Sauda penned down an anonymous letter to the then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee in the year 2002. The letter alleged that Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had raped her more than once and sexually exploited other sadhvis in the sect too. Reports suggested that Ram Rahim Singh often threatened the rape victims of his political clout in Haryana and Punjab in order to keep the matter discreet.

Notably, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu cognizance of the letter and referred the matter to the CBI for an enquiry. Upon a CBI investigation and interrogating disciples who had left the Dera, two women accused Ram Rahim Singh of rape and the CBI filed a charge sheet was filed in 2007.

Apart from rape and murder charges, Ram Rahim is also accused of allegedly castrating over 400 of his followers. Moreover, Ram Rahim was also allegedly involved in 2015 sacrilege case - which has now grabbed headlines due to the Punjab Congress turmoil. The Dera chief was accused of theft of a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib from Burj Jawahar Singh Wala gurdwara after torn pages from the holy book were found at Bargari.