The Supreme Court on August 10 admitted a petition challenging the acquittal of writer-producer-director-actor and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is serving a 20-year jail term for sexually assaulting two women disciples, in the 2002 murder of Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
An apex court bench including CJI Surya Kant overruled protests by Ram Rahim’s counsel that it was a case of acquittal and that the state hadn’t filed any appeal against it.
The trial court had convicted Ram Ram Singh and sentenced him to life imprisonment in January 2019.
Admitting a petition by the son of the murdered journalist, the Supreme Court requisitioned the trial court records for scrutiny. It posted final hearing in November-end. The witness in the case is the ex-driver of Ram Rahim Singh, who had recorded his statement before a judicial magistrate implicating his boss in the murder conspiracy.