Punjab and Haryana High Court acquits Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in 2002 murder case

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others in the murder case of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh..A Bench of Justices Sureshwar Thakur and Lalit Batra pronounced the decision today on the appeals moved by Ram Rahim and others who had been convicted by a CBI Court in Haryana's Panchkula in 2021. The five accused - Ram Rahim, Avtar Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh and Krishan Lal - had been sentenced to life imprisonment by the trial court. In the judgment delivered today, the Court said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had carried out a "tainted and sketchy investigation" into the crime and the evidence collected was unworthy of credence.It also highlighted the impact of the media glare in the case. "The instant case is a stark portrayal of the necessity of Courts of law making an incisive and objective analyses, of the evidence as exist on record, rather than the said objective analyses becoming attempted to become stultified, through a pro active media trial becoming made of the purported incriminatory role of the accused vis-a-vis the crime event," the Court said..On the motive behind the murder, the Court rejected the CBI claim that Ranjit Singh had been killed as Ram Rahim was enraged because of the circulation of an anonymous complaint of sexual exploitation against him (Dera chief).The Court also said the accusation that Ranjit Singh had been summoned to the Dera by co-accused to make him apologise to Ram Rahim for circulation of the anonymous complaint did not have any "evidentiary strength" as the statements of witnesses in this regard were full of contradictions."It appears that no animosity spurred inter se the deceased and accused No.1 nor thereby there was any motive etched in the mind of accused No.1, thus for his directing the other co-accused to eliminate the deceased," the judgment written by Justice Thakur said. .The Court also trashed the CBI accusation that after Ranjit Singh had left the Dera without apologising to Ram Rahim, a conspiracy meeting to murder him had been held.It noted that one Darshan Singh, who had been part of the meeting, had neither been cited as a witness nor was added as an accused."Resultantly, the non arraying of the said Darshan Singh, thus as an accused besides also with the prosecution omitting to cite him as a witness, but begets an inference that the prosecution story vis-a-vis the said meeting, wherein, accused No.1, directed the other accused(s) to kill the deceased, is but a concocted and invented story by the prosecution," the Court said..The Court also ruled that there were contradictions with regard to the eyewitness account regarding the place of firing and the persons who had taken the victim to the hospital.."There is merit in the instant appeals, and, the same are allowed. The impugned verdict, as, drawn, upon/qua the convicts, by the learned trial Judge concerned, is quashed, and, set aside, and, the appellants are acquitted of the charge(s) drawn against them," the Court ordered..Senior Advocate R Basant and advocates Akshay Sahay, Amar D Kamra Jitender Khurana, Aman Jha and Rishu Tutu represented convict Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. Senior Advocate RS Rai and advocates Gautam Dutt, Anurag Arora, Radhika Mehta, Advocate and Farhad Kohli represented convict Jasbir Singh.Senior Advocate Sonia Mathur and advocates Amit Tiwari, Harish Chabra, Nikhil, Madhav Singhal and Mayank Aggarwal represented convict Krishan Lal.Advocates PS Ahluwalia and Balraj Singh Sidhu represented convict Avtar Singh Gill.Advocates Mohinder S Joshi and Ravneet Joshi represented convict Sabdil Singh.Advocates Ravi Kamal Gupta and Kompal Arora represented the CBI.Senior Advocate RS Bains and advocates Aman Raj Bawa, Anmol Deep Singh and Amarjeet Singh represented the complainant..[Read Judgment]