Chandigarh, March 8 -- The Punjab and Haryana high court on Saturday acquitted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the 2002 murder case of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. The dera chief remains behind bars in Rohtak's Sunaria jail as he is serving a 20-year sentence, awarded in 2017, for the rape of two disciples.

Ram Rahim head, along with three others, was originally convicted in the Chhatrapati case by a special CBI court in Panchkula on January 17, 2019. The lower court had sentenced them to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs.50,000. While the high court bench, comprising chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Vikram Aggarwal, set aside the verdict against Ram Rahim, it upheld the conviction of three co-convic...