Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, 4 others get life term in 19-yr-old sect manager murder case

A special CBI court on Monday sentenced Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others to life imprisonment in the 19-year-old murder case of sect manager Ranjit Singh.

The court in Panchkula had convicted Ram Rahim and four others -- Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Avtar Singh and Sabdil -- in the murder case on October 8.

The court has sentenced five to life imprisonment, said CBI special prosecutor H P S Verma.

Former Dera manager Ranjit Singh, who was also a follower of the sect, was shot dead on July 10, 2002 at Khanpur Kolian village in Haryana's Kurukshetra.

He was murdered for his suspected role in the circulation of an anonymous letter, which narrated how women were allegedly being sexually exploited by the sect head at the Dera headquarters.

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 years imprisonment for raping two disciples. He is currently lodged in Rohtak's Sunaria jail.