PTI
Chandigarh, Aug 1: The Central Bureau of Investigation has charged the head of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda Baba Gurmeet Ram Singh in two murder cases and one of rape.
CBI standing counsel Rajan Gupta, told reporters outside the Punjab and Haryana High Court here that the Dera head been named accused in all the three different cases. The cases relate to the murder of Dera manager Ranjit Singh, Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chander Chatterpatti and alleged rape of a disciple.
He said that a special CBI court at Ambala had also issued notice to the Dera chief for August 31. Gupta, who was accompanied with CBI DIG M Narayan and agency's Superintendent of Police S P Singh, said that besides the Dera head ten persons had been accused in the two murder cases by the investigation agency.
Earlier, the CBI filed a "status report" in the court of Justices Adesh Kumar Goel and Ajay Lamba about the three cases in compliance of the High Court's order. The status report was filed in a "sealed cover", following which the Division Bench of the court disposed off a petition seeking filing of the status report by the investigation agency.
Gupta said that the CBI had already filed chargesheets in the three different cases in a court at Ambala on July 30. While the Dera chief has been the sole accused in the sexual exploitation of a woman, he along with five persons have been accused in the murder of Dera manager Ranjit Singh.
Besides, four persons, including the sect head, had been charged with murder and criminal conspiracy in a case related to the killing of a journalist Ram Chander Chatrapati, Gupta said. Meanwhile, the CBI DIG said that the agency would deliver the notice to the head of Dera Sacha Sauda on August 5.
Gupta said the CBI also moved an application in the High Court here seeking transfer of the case of murder of the journalist from a court in Sirsa to the trial court at Ambala.
"Our investigations in all the three cases are complete and final," the CBI's DIG said adding that the probe by the investigation agency was "thorough."