Late Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapti
Exposing the truth comes with a price and for Ram Chander Chhatrapati exposing Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh cost him his life.
While Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh may be for now cooling his heels in jail, it was Chhatrapati who bust the fake halo around the self styled godman, years back.
Journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati ran a daily by the name of Poora Sacch. It was he who exposed the rape of two women at Dera headquarters in Sirsa in 2002.
Another alleged murder case against the Dera chief is for killing of Ranjit Singh, a former Dera member, in July 2002 as he had highlighted alleged wrongdoings inside the Dera headquarters, including sexual exploitation of female devotees.
Chhatrapati interestingly had published an anonymous letter giving details about how women were sexually harassed by the godman at Sirsa ashram. The three page letter was addressed to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and heads of institutions including the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Later not only was a probe ordered but even a case was raised against the self styled Godman under Section 376 (rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (insult to the modesty of woman) of the IPC.
Chhatrapati was killed allegedly by Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep, who used to work as carpenters.
As per CBI, Gurmeet Rahim Singh ordered killing of Chhatrapati. A scooter and pistol were provided to them by one Krishan Lal.
Chhatrapti’s son Anshul continues to fight a legal battle and awaits justice from the CBI court.
Anshul told news outlets, “ It is when the FIR did not have the name of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh that the legal battle started. “
The conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by a CBI court comes as a ray of hope for the family of Ram Chander Chhatrapati.
Next hearing in the Chhatrapati murder case is September 16.
In January 2005, Anshul Chhatrapati had filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a CBI inquiry into the death of his father.
The High Court had ordered the CBI to register an FIR in the case on November 10, 2003. Ramchander was born in a simple farmer family.
But his calling lay in journalism. He worked for many newspapers. He began to run a local paper living in Haryana.
Ram chander Chhatrapati was the first journalist who had highlighted the case of sexual abuse with Sadhvis 15 years ago.
On October 24, 2002, the men of Ram Rahim allegedly pumped bullets at point blank range into Chhatrapati’s body after which he lost a battle with life after 28 days in the hospital. Chhatrapati took the name of Ram Rahim in his statement to the police. Chhatrapati it is learnt had dug deep into sources of Dera’s income as well.
As per latest reports at least 31 people have died and over 250 people have been injured in the Dera violence, the media has been attacked in the violence after the conviction of Gurmeet Ram Rahim in a rape case.
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