Hearing Underway at CBI Court in Murder Cases Against Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh

Panchkula: A special CBI court is hearing two separate murder cases against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and others in Panchkula amid tight security across the Haryana town to prevent a repeat of last month's violence when the sect leader was convicted of rape.

The cases, related to the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, allegedly by functionaries and followers of the sect is being held in the court of special CBI judge Jagdeep Singh.

The same court had, on August 25, convicted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on two counts of rape of female disciples.

Haryana Director General of Police BS Sandhu has said that adequate paramilitary and Haryana Police personnel had been stationed around the court complex in Sector 1 and other areas in Panchkula town to maintain law and order.

There are no reports of the Dera Sacha Sauda followers assembling in Panchkula, unlike the rape case hearing where over one lakh followers had converged in the town.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has not physically been produced in the CBI special court and the hearing is taking place through video conferencing as the Dera Sacha Sauda Chief is lodged in the District Jail in Sunaria near Rohtak.

Chhatrapati and Ranjit Singh were murdered in 2002. The sect chief is an accused in both murder cases as these were carried out allegedly at his behest.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment by the CBI court on August 28.

His conviction led to violence in Panchkula and Sirsa in Haryana, leaving 38 people dead and 264 injured. Isolated incidents of violence were also reported from Delhi and several other places in Punjab.