The Punjab and Haryana high court has resumed hearing in the Ram Chander Chhatrapati murder case, more than four months after reserving its verdict on the appeal filed by writer-producer-director-actor and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and others, citing that new facts had emerged. A division bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal, while starting re-hearing of the matter, observed what it had mentioned in its order released on January 30. The order said, “The appeals have been finally heard on September 25, 2025. However, while dictating the judgement, some new facts have emerged, which require further clarification.”
On January 17, 2019, a special CBI court had sentenced the Dera chief and three others to life imprisonment for the 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. The Dera chief challenged the conviction before the high court, claiming that he had been falsely implicated by the CBI as the first chargesheet against the other accused — Nirmal, Kuldeep and Krishan Lal — had already been filed and none of them had alleged his involvement.
