Dera chief held guilty of his follower's murder

A special CBI court in Panchkula held Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim guilty of murdering his follower, Ranjit Singh, in 2002. The judgment was pronounced by special CBI judge Sushil Kumar Garg and the quantum of punishment will be awarded later. Other accused too have been convicted. Ranjit Singh, a follower of Ram Rahim, was shot dead by four assailants on July 10, 2002, at his native Khanpur Kolian village in Kurukshetra. According to the CBI, he was murdered as Ram Rahim suspected that he was behind the circulation of an anonymous letter highlighting sexual exploitation of female disciples at the dera. The dera head is lodged in Rohtak’s Sunaria Jail, serving a 20-year jail term for raping two disciples.