The Supreme Court today (January 3) issued a notice in the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court's decision to acquit Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in connection with the 2002 murder of manager Ranjit Singh.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, issued a notice in the case and directed that it be tagged with another pending appeal filed by the complainant, who has also challenged the acquittal.

Notably, in 2002, manager Ranjit Singh was shot dead by four unknown assailants, allegedly due to suspicions held by Baba Ram Rahim that the deceased was responsible for circulating an anonymous letter that highlighted incidents of sexual exploitation involving the Dera Chief’s female followers.

The Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta, representing the CBI, informed the bench that a previous bench, headed by Justice Bela Trivedi and Justice SC Sharma, had issued notice in the appeal filed by the complainant, the father of the deceased.

Considering the same, the CJI passed the following order :

"Our attention has been drawn to the office report dated 9.9.24 of the order passed by bench of Justice Trivedi, issue notice and tag with SLP crl no.012607/2024, the SLP be listed before the bench presided by Justice Bela Trivedi"

The matter will now be heard before the bench of Justice Bela Trivedi.

On May 28, a division bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Lalit Batra of the High Court observed that the CBI, which took over the investigation in November 2023, had failed to establish the motive behind the crime. The bench noted that the prosecution's case was "shrouded in doubts."

The other convicts who were sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Ram Rahim are Avtar Singh, Krishan Lal, Jasbir Singh, and Sabdil Singh. One of the accused, Inder Sain, passed away during the trial in 2020.

It is important to note that Ram Rahim is already serving a 20-year sentence for the offense of rape. He was convicted for the murder of his disciple, Ranjit Singh, under Sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Additionally, he was convicted for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati, for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment, to be served after the completion of his 20-year term.