File photo: Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim

CHANDIGARH: Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday acquitted the jailed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim in the 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, overturning a life sentence awarded by a CBI court and dealing a blow to the investigating agency.Gurmeet remains lodged in Sunaria jail in Rohtak, serving a 20-year sentence since August 2017 after conviction for raping two women devotees. He has spent more than eight years in prison in that case.He also faces a separate CBI case over the alleged castration of some Dera followers. Trial is pending in a court in Panchkula. HC had earlier acquitted him in the murder case of former Dera manager Ranjit Singh. On Saturday, HC allowed the Dera chief’s appeal against his conviction in the Chhatrapati murder case while upholding life sentences of three co-accused. The slain journalist’s son Anshul, said the family plans to challenge the acquittal in Supreme Court. Chhatrapati was the editor of evening newspaper Poora Sach.

He had published reports alleging sexual exploitation of women disciples at Dera Sacha Sauda. Prosecution alleged he was killed in retaliation for the coverage.Dera chief counsel alleges CBI torture and revengeA special CBI court had sentenced the Dera chief and three others to life imprisonment in 2019, along with a fine of 50,000 each. Gurmeet challenged that conviction in HC, saying he had been wrongly accused.“Krishan Lal was tortured by CBI. The name of the Dera chief was thereafter included as an accused by way of revenge,” his counsel said.Lawyers also questioned the testimony of key witness Khatta Singh, saying the claim that a conspiracy was hatched in his presence and wasn’t undisclosed to anyone “stands falsified by the admission of IO, M Narayanan, in his cross-examination”. The defence further argued prosecution failed to show Gurmeet had any grievance against the journalist. “The investigating agency failed to prove even an iota of evidence that the appellant ever read the said newspaper,” the counsel said, adding that the evening paper largely reproduced reports already published by morning newspapers.