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(This story was first published on 16 September 2017 and has been reposted from The Quint’s archives after the conviction of Ram Rahim and the other accused in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.)
In a diary entry dated somewhere between 1987-88, Ram Chander Chhatrapati penned his exasperation at not being able to sustain his newspaper ‘Sirsa Samrat’. But earnings from his legal practice and a small piece of agricultural land in Haryana’s Sirsa district would help keep his editorial endeavour alive for about three more years.
In February 2002, he would go on to rebrand ‘Sirsa Samrat’ as the ‘Poora Sach’ and a few months later expose the rape of two sadhvis by Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
He succumbed to his injuries around a month later on 21 November 2002, leaving behind a wife, two sons and two daughters who have continued to fight the legal battle for justice.
Now, the special CBI court pronounced the final verdict in the murder case on Thursday, 17 January, in Panchkula, where judge Jagdeep Singh, has sentenced the self-styled godman for life in prison for the murder of the journalist.
Judge Singh had also put self-styled godman Gurmeet Singh behind bars on 25 August 2017 for 20 years on charges of raping two women.
Gurmeet Singh’s conviction in the two rape cases that Chhatrapati uncovered 15 years ago is seen as a “ray of hope” for his family awaiting justice.
A lawyer-journalist, he had a penchant for truth, that’s how Ram Chander's son Anshul Chhatrapati describes him. “My father wasn’t fond of the profession and would say that lawyers resort to distorting facts and lying,” he tells The Quint during a phone conversation.
Although Ram Chander left the practice to join his family business, he continued writing for numerous news publications till late 1990s.
“But his articles were often cut or rejected if they were too anti-establishment or if his opinion was not supported by the news organisation. These were the issues that gnawed at him and he wanted to write about them,” Anshul says.
Ram Chander then began publishing his Hindi daily ‘Poora Sach’ or ‘the whole truth’ from February 2002 with the help of other scholars, academicians and even a few poets on board.
Anshul says the first time his father encountered the Dera was when one of its cars crushed a little boy to death in 1998.
Around the same time, the Dera was also in the news for land encroachment in villages nearby.
Unchecked and unchallenged, the Dera appears to have become a state unto itself. A more recent report states that the Dera sanctioned illegal residential colonies in its vicinity without the approval of the the Haryana Town and Country Planning Department.
On 30 May 2002, a Dera driver became involved in a spat with a police official in Sirsa’s Rori Bazaar. During the argument, the policeman revealed the details of the letter penned by a sadhvi to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee accusing Gurmeet Singh of sexual assault.
‘Poora Sach’ carried the news of the letter in its paper and continued to publish reports on the same after gathering more details.
According to a Frontline report, the Punjab and Haryana Court, after taking cognisance of the letter, directed the District and Sessions Judge to conduct an inquiry on 3 September 2002. The latter then recommended that the matter be probed by the CBI. The case was then transferred to the agency on 24 September 2002 and it was directed to submit a report within the next six months.
On the fateful day of 24 October 2002, Ram Chander was shot dead, allegedly by two Dera supporters, Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep Singh.
He was admitted to a hospital in Sirsa and then shifted to New Delhi’s Apollo Hospital.
Ram Chander passed away on 21 November 2002.
His son is hopeful that the judicial system can deliver justice once again.
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