Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, the bling guru of Dera Sacha Sauda sect, will today appear before a court in Panchkula, 10km from Chandigarh, to hear the verdict in case where he is accused of raping two women in his ashram.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim was accused of rape in 2002, when a sadhvi wrote an anonymous letter to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying she was raped by the Dera chief. During CBI probe, two women came on record to say that were raped by Gurmeet Ram Rahim. They recorded their statements before the court, which are also part of the statements filed in the CBI court.
The Dera spiritual guru is charged with rape (Section 376 of IPC) and criminal intimidation (Section 506).
There are mainly four permutations and combinations of the ruling that is expected to come out at 2.30 pm in the afternoon.
A) He could be convicted for raping the women, which carries a prison term of not less than 7 years.
B) He could be convicted of criminal intimidation.
C) He could be acquitted of all charges.
D) He could be convicted of all the charges.
Gurmeet Ram Rahim is also facing trial in two separate murder cases - those of Dera follower Ranjit Singh in July 2002 and of journalist Ram Chander Chattrapati in October that same year.
