A special CBI court at Panchkula in Haryana on Friday convicted the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda chief, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, in the case of killing of journalist Ramchander Chhatrapati.The quantum of sentence will be announced on January 17.
The court also convicted three others, including Nirmal Singh, Gurdeep Singh and Krishan Lal.
Chhatrapati was shot five times outside his house in 2002 after he published in his evening newspaper, Poora Sach, an anonymous letter written by a female Dera follower, accusing Gurmeet of rape. He died of his injuries a few days later.
Gurmeet, who is serving 20-year imprisonment for two counts of rape of his followers, appeared before the court through video-conferencing.
The State government had pleaded that Gurmeet should not be asked to be present personally keeping in view the law and order situation that may emerge and the court on January 8 accepted the plea.
