Ranjit Singh murder case: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has acquitted controversial Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four other accused in the murder case of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh. All of them were sentenced to life imprisonment by the CBI court in the 2002 Ranjit Singh murder case.
A division bench of Justice Suresh Thakur and Justice Lalit Batra found that the CBI, which took over the investigation in November 2023, failed to prove the motive of the crime and the prosecution’s case remained ‘surrounded by doubt’. That is, the High Court did not believe the evidence presented by the CBI and said that there was no concrete evidence that Gurmeet Ram Rahim had got Ranjit Singh killed.
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In a 163-page order, Justice Suresh Thakur, on behalf of a two-judge bench, admitted that the investigating officers in this case had carried out a superficial and superficial investigation and collected evidence that was not reliable.
In this special story, understand all the legal twists and turns from the story of the Ranjit Singh murder case to the acquittal of Ram Rahim.
First know what is Ranjit Singh murder case?
On 10th July 2002, Ranjit Singh was returning on his motorcycle after giving tea to his father who was working in the fields in Khanpur Koliyan village of Kurukshetra. Then four people opened fire on him and fled. Ranjit Singh died due to the bullet injury. The suspicion of his murder was raised on the fact that he had written an anonymous letter in which it was alleged that the Dera has become a center of exploitation of female disciples. On the basis of this letter, a rape case was registered against Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the year 2002.
The eyewitnesses of this case were Ranjit Singh’s father Joginder Singh and his neighbour Sukhdev Singh who identified the shooters Jasbir Singh and Sabdil Singh. Sabdil was once Ram Rahim’s gunman. The bullet recovered from Ranjit Singh’s body was fired from a .455 bore pistol, which was given to Sabdil by the Dera. In this case, a case was filed against the Dera chief, Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, Avtar Singh and Sabdil. Another accused Inder Sain died on 8 October 2020.
Ram Rahim’s driver Khatta Singh had said in his testimony in the CBI special court that Ram Rahim Singh had ordered the murder of Ranjit Singh in a meeting held inside the Dera premises on 16 June 2002. Ram Rahim, in his defense, had claimed that at the time of that alleged meeting, he was not present in Sirsa but was in Rajasthan.
On what basis did the High Court acquit Gurmeet Ram Rahim?
On 18 October 2021, Panchkula CBI Special Court Judge Sushil Kumar Garg sentenced all of them to life imprisonment. The CBI judge also imposed a fine of Rs 31 lakh on the head of the Dera. Sabdil was fined Rs 1.5 lakh, Jasbir and Krishna Rs 1.25 lakh each and Avtar Singh Rs 75,000.
On 15 December 2021, the Dera chief filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the decision of the CBI Special Court. On 28 May 2024, the High Court gave its verdict and acquitted all the accused. The High Court clearly stated in its order that the police and the team of lawyers (prosecution) could not prove that the accused had a meeting in the Dera premises on 16 June 2002 and during that time Ram Rahim had ordered the murder of Ranjit Singh. This was said by the CBI, but the court did not find concrete evidence of this.
Also, the High Court found that there were a lot of discrepancies in the statements of the witnesses. After reading the statements of the witnesses, the court came to the conclusion that the accused who allegedly fired the shot on 26 June 2002 did not go to Ranjit Singh’s house nor did he threaten him on that day. The judges believe that the story of the accused going to the deceased’s house and threatening him is completely fabricated and fabricated to create false evidence against Ram Rahim.
Questions raised on CBI’s witness
The court observed that the same witness Khatta Singh who had said that the conspiracy to murder Ranjeet Singh was hatched by Ram Rahim has also said that the CBI was forcing him to give a statement against the head of the Dera by threatening and pressurizing him.
The court said that this witness had also lodged a complaint with the CBI Superintendent of Police, Sirsa that the CBI investigating officer was threatening him to give a statement against the head of the Dera. Therefore, the court cannot consider Khatta Singh’s statement as evidence against Ram Rahim.
Referring to the ballistic report (report related to the examination of the weapon and bullet), the High Court said that it can be clearly assumed that the weapon in question was never used while committing the crime. The court found that the weapon in question was always in the armory and was not available to be used to commit the crime at the crime scene.
The court found several flaws in the CBI investigation
Three witnesses had stated in their statements that all four attackers had weapons, but the CBI did not seize any of those weapons. The car that was allegedly used to commit the crime was never seized.
Moreover, the CBI did not prepare any map of the place where the alleged conspiracy was hatched on 16 June 2002. The CBI also did not collect any evidence about the restaurant where witness no. 31 allegedly saw accused no. 2 to 5 openly celebrating the murder of the deceased. The CBI did not even question the owner of the restaurant or the employees working there at that time.
Polygraph test rejected
The prosecution had conducted a polygraph test (lie detector test) on three accused, which was related to the incident of the alleged murder. On this, the court said that the results of the test show that there was cheating in answering some questions. The court also emphasized that nowhere is it mentioned that the consent of the accused persons was taken before conducting the polygraph test. Whereas consent is mandatory in such cases.
Taking all these points into consideration, the High Court said that the investigating officers had conducted a negligent and incomplete investigation in the investigation of the crime, and they had collected evidence which was not reliable. Accepting Ram Rahim’s appeal, the High Court said, “This appeal has merit and is accepted. The verdict pronounced by the trial court judge on the accused is quashed. The appellants are acquitted of the charges levelled against them.”
