Dera chief's former driver moves HC

Chandigarh:  Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s former driver Khatta Singh today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking to record afresh his statement into the case of killing of cult’s former manager Ranjit Singh.

Earlier, a special CBI court in Panchkula had dismissed the plea of Khatta Singh on September 25. “Khatta Singh has substantial and important evidence against the Dera head. Earlier, he had retracted from his statement due to security concerns, but now he wants to speak the truth,” Singh’s counsel Navkiran Singh said.

“The HC has been moved today seeking permission to record fresh statement by Khatta Singh,” he said. The case will come up for hearing on October 3, he said. Ram Rahim Singh, facing 20 years of imprisonment for raping two of his disciples, is named as key conspirator into the killing of Ranjit Singh in 2002.

The special CBI court in Panchkula is hearing the cases of killing of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati and Ranjit Singh. Khatta Singh had earlier given statement against Ram Rahim Singh in 2007 but he then retracted from his statement in 2012.

Khatta Singh, a witness in the murder case of Dera’s former manager, had retracted his statement in the past as he was under pressure from Ram Rahim Singh and his “goons”, his counsel had earlier claimed. Ranjit Singh was killed for his suspected role in circulating the anonymous letter which made the allegations of sexual exploitation of his disciples by the Dera head in his headquarters in Sirsa, according to the prosecution.