In the case, the CBI and the family of the slain journalist had demanded capital punishment for Ram Rahim. "This is the triumph of truth, I feel relieved today. Prosecution had demanded capital punishment but we're satisfied with the punishment,"said Anshul, the son of the late journalist.
The convicts, Ram Rahim and three others appeared through video conference. Reports say he accepted the verdict with folded hands and got up to proceed to the barracks. The 51-year-old Sirsa-based sect head is currently serving a 20-year-prison term in Rohtak's Sunaria jail for raping two of his women followers. While the three other convicts, Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal, are lodged in Ambala jail.
Ahead of the sentencing, security was also stepped up outside the Panchkula court complex with Haryana police putting up barricades on roads leading to the court. Elaborate security arrangements were made in Panchkula and Sirsa, headquarters of Ram Rahim Singh, and other parts of Haryana to maintain law and order situation.
The court on Wednesday accepted the Haryana government's plea seeking appearance of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect head through video conference during the pronouncement of quantum of sentence in the journalist murder case.
On January 11, Special CBI Court judge Jagdeep Singh had convicted Ram Rahim and three others in the 2002 journalist murder case. All the four were convicted under section 302 (murder) and 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal were also convicted under the Arms Act.
Journalist Chhatrapati was shot in October 2002 outside his house in Haryana's Sirsa after his newspaper 'Poora Sach' published an anonymous letter narrating how women were being sexually exploited by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa. The case was registered in 2003 and handed over to the CBI in 2006.
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