India’s self-styled 'godman' Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, who is already imprisoned on charges of rape, has now been sentenced to life imprisonment for the 2002 murder of a journalist who had exposed sexual exploitation within Rahim's sect.
The 52-year-old spiritual leader of Dera Sacha Sauda's life prison term will commence after the completion of the 20-year jail term he is currently serving for the prior charge of rape.
Three other people also accused of the journalist's murder – Kuldeep Singh, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal – were handed life sentences as well.
In October 2002, journalist Ramchander Chhatrapati was killed after he published stories in his newspaper Poora Sach exposing sexual exploitation of women at Ram Rahim's Dera headquarters in Sirsa city, in the northern Indian state of Haryana.
After the sentencing on Thursday, the murdered journalist’s son, Anshul Chhatrapathi told media, “This is the triumph of truth, I feel relieved today.”
“The prosecution had demanded capital punishment but we are satisfied with the punishment,” he added.
On January 11, Special CBI Court Judge Jagdeep Singh had convicted Ram Rahim and three others in the 2002 murder case.
Ram Rahim was named as the main conspirator, and the case was registered in 2003. Following a plea from the family of the slain journalist, it was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2006.
Elaborate security arrangements were put in place in Haryana and Punjab ahead of the sentencing, in view of the violence that followed his 2017 rape conviction, which claimed 38 lives and left hundreds injured.
