Chandigarh, March 7 : The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday acquitted self-styled godman and Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati in 2002.

Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is serving a 20-year jail sentence for raping two of his disciples and a life term for the murder of journalist Chhatrapati.

His acquittal comes seven years after a special CBI court had convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment. However, he would remain behind bars for his conviction in the rape case.

The verdict was delivered by a Division Bench of Chief Justice Sheel Nagu and Justice Vikram Aggarwal while hearing appeals challenging the 2019 conviction in the case.

However, the Bench dismissed the appeals filed by two other accused.

The self-styled godman's acquittal comes weeks after the Bench scrutinised the evidence following controversy over the bullets allegedly used in the crime.

A special CBI court in Haryanaâ??s Panchkula town in 2019 convicted Rahim Singh for the murder of Sirsa-based journalist Chhatrapati. Three others, Krishan Lal, Kuldeep Singh and Nirmal Singh, who were close aides of the sect chief, were also convicted by the court.

Chhatrapati was shot at in October 2002 and died later. The CBI had registered the case on the orders on November 10, 2003, of the High Court and took over the investigation of the case which was earlier registered at the police station in Sirsa.

It was alleged that Chhatrapati, a journalist from Sirsa who was running a newspaper called â??Poora Sachâ??, was shot at on October 24, 2002, in the evening by Kuldeep Singh and Nirmal Singh, both carpenters in Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa, at his residence in Sirsa. He died on November 21, 2002.

The state police arrested Kuldeep Singh and Nirmal Singh and a walkie-talkie belonging to the Dera and a revolver belonging to accused Krishan Lal was recovered.

A chargesheet was filed against Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal by the police in the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate in Sirsa on December 5, 2002.

The son of the victim moved the High Court, alleging involvement of the self-styled godman in the murder of his father and prayed for transfer of the investigation to the CBI.

After a thorough investigation, the CBI found the role of Rahim Singh and other accused - Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh, Krishan Lal - and filed a chargesheet against them.

In January 2019, the special CBI court held Ram Rahim and the co-accused guilty of conspiring to murder the journalist and sentenced them to life imprisonment.

/IANS