The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday cleared Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, head of Dera Sacha Sauda, of charges related to the 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. The ruling comes more than seven years after a special court had found him guilty and handed down a life sentence.

According to Singh’s lawyer Jitender Khurana, the High Court set aside the earlier verdict and acquitted the Dera chief in the case involving the killing of the Sirsa-based journalist.

In 2019, a special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation had convicted Singh along with three others—Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal. They were held guilty under provisions of the Indian Penal Code related to murder and criminal conspiracy and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The case dates back to October 2002, when Chhatrapati, who published the newspaper Poora Sach, was shot outside his home in Sirsa. He later died from his injuries. The attack occurred after his publication carried an anonymous letter alleging sexual abuse of female followers at the Dera’s headquarters.

Chhatrapati’s family subsequently approached the High Court in 2003 requesting an independent investigation. The matter was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which submitted its chargesheet in 2007.

Although Singh has now been acquitted in the journalist’s murder case, he will continue to remain behind bars. In 2017, a special CBI court convicted him of raping two of his followers and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Following that conviction, Singh has been serving his sentence at Sunaria jail in Rohtak.