India, March 8 -- The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Saturday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

The dera head, along with three others, was convicted in the case and sentenced to life imprisonment by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Panchkula in January 2019.

On Saturday, the high court bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Vikram Aggarwal set aside the CBI court's verdict against Ram Rahim, even as it upheld the conviction of the three others -- Krishan Lal, Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep Singh alias Kala -- in the case.

"The high court division bench headed by chief justice Sheel Nagu on Saturday acquitted him (Ram Rahim...