Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh verdict: 15 years on, scribe's son awaits justice for father who exposed Dera chief

Watching the scenes of mob rampage by Dera Sacha Saudha unfold in Panchkula, Sirsa and other parts of Haryana on Friday evening, Anshul Chhatrapati could not help but recollect his father, journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati's expose of the alleged illegal activities in the Dera and rape by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. In his Sirsa-based paper, Poora Sach (Whole Truth), Ram Chander had done a story in 2002, alleging the Dera-head, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, of raping two sadhvis, based on the anonymous letter of one of the sadhvis. Months after that expose on October, Ram Chander was shot on October 21 right outside his home at point blank range, allegedly by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's associates. He died on November 21.

Fifteen years later, Anshul, who continued running his father's paper till 2014, is still awaiting justice for his father's death. The case is slated for a final hearing on September 16 in the same CBI court, Panchkula, that convicted the 'godman' on charges of rape on Friday.

"In 2002, my father ran a series of stories on the rape accusations against Dera chief, Dera's illegal activities and the suspicious elements it harboured. He had made it quite clear that the Dera and its activities had made Sirsa and parts of Haryana a tinderbox. Instead of indulging in vote-bank politics, if political parties and state governments had investigated the Dera, this kind of rampage would not have happened," Anshul said.

The struggle to get his father's murder investigated and then to the court was a slow and arduous one for Anshul. "When we realized that the police was shielding the Dera, we moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court in January 2003 to seek a CBI investigation of the crime. It has taken 14 years for the case to reach a point of culmination. Since my father ran a local paper, several people from the community helped me immensely. Even senior lawyer Rajinder Sachar helped us in the matter when the CBI investigation was challenged in Supreme Court," Anshul said.

Even as the Dera chief has appeared in two movies this year, on August 19, he did not show up for the last hearing on the Ram Chander case before the CBI Court on medical grounds. He submitted a report to the court of his back pain.

The Dera chief's conviction for raping a sadhvi has infused hope in Anshul for a positive outcome in his father's case. "I am hopeful about a favourable outcome. It will be worth the wait."