Punjab and Haryana high court acquits Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in journalist murder case

High court acquits Ram Rahim in journalist murder case

March 7, 2026

Court overturns 2019 life sentence in killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday acquitted Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, chief of Dera Sacha Sauda, in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

Chhatrapati was shot at point-blank range at his residence on October 24, 2002. The killing occurred months after his newspaper published an anonymous letter alleging that women who joined the dera as sadhvis were sexually harassed and raped by the dera chief.

2019 conviction overturned

In January 2019, a special Central Bureau of Investigation court in Panchkula had sentenced Ram Rahim and three others to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000.

The dera chief and the other accused challenged the verdict later that year, arguing that they had been falsely implicated in the case.

The high court has now overturned the conviction, acquitting Ram Rahim and the co-accused.

Already serving jail term in rape cases

Ram Rahim is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in two rape cases for which he was convicted in 2017.

He is lodged in Sunaria Jail in Rohtak, Haryana.

In May 2024, the high court had also acquitted him in the 2002 murder case of former dera manager Ranjit Singh.

Other cases still under investigation

Apart from these cases, Ram Rahim is also named in several FIRs linked to the 2015 sacrilege incidents in Punjab, which are currently under investigation.

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