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A Special CBI Court on Monday awarded life imprisonment to Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty for the murder of his disciple, Ranjit Singh.

Panchkula court has awards life imprisonment to all the accused, including Dera Sacha Sauda's Gurmeet Ram Rahim and four others. A fine of Rs 31 Lakhs levied on Ram Rahim and Rs 50,000 on the remaining accused has also been imposed.

Earlier, Dera Sacha Sauda Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was held guilty for the murder of his disciple, Ranjit Singh, in 2002 by a special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Court of Panchkula also convicted four others in the case. Whereas, the Court had further posted the order for deciding the quantum of punishment on another date.

The court of Secial CBI Judge, Panchkula, Dr Sushil Kumar Garg, held Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, Jasbir Singh, Sabdil Singh, Krishan Lal and Inder Sain guilty under Sections 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Krishan Lal, Inder Sain and Jasbir Singh have also been held guilty under the Arms Act.

According to the CBI chargesheet, the Dera Chief suspected Ranjit Singh, who was also the manager of the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa (Haryana), of circulating an anonymous letter accusing the Chief of sexually exploiting women followers (sadhvis) inside the Dera, which was subsequently highlighted in a news report by a Sirsa-based journalist.

The journalist was also subsequently killed and Rahim was recently convicted in the Chhatrapati murder case.

Ranjit Singh was murdered on July 10, 2002 in the jurisdiction of Thanesar police station in Kurukshetra in Haryana, in which case Rahim faced charges of murder and criminal conspiracy. In 2003, the High Court had ordered a CBI investigation in the case.