Ambala, October 20
The CBI today strongly opposed Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s regular bail application in a rape case and two cases of murder conspiracy in the court of special judge for CBI cases in Haryana R.K. Saini.

While CBI chief public prosecutor Rajan Gupta concluded his arguments against the regular bail application filed by the dera chief, the arguments by the counsel of the dera chief could not be completed today.

Saini ordered that further arguments on the regular bail application would take place on October 22.

The CBI counsel submitted that the dera chief should not be granted a regular bail. It was stated that the CBI had clinching evidence to prove the involvement of the dera chief in the three cases.

The CBI counsel said the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chattrapati and Ranjit Singh had taken place following the direction by the dera chief. He stated that a sadhvi in the dera had said the dera chief had sexually assaulted her.

It was also argued that in cases in which the person has a sizeable following, the status of the accused versus the status of the witnesses must be borne in mind. The high profile cases of Amarmani Tripathi and Pappu Yadav were cited during the arguments.

Counsel for dera chief S.K. Garg said he was a law-abiding citizen. He said there were several irregularities in the investigations carried out by the CBI. He pointed out that even though the alleged incident of sexual assault had taken place in 1999, the victim had come forward only after seven years.

He said the statements of other persons, who had been mentioned by the sadhvi, had not been recorded.

He said the CBI was taking action on the basis of an anonymous letter and it had failed to find out the person, who had written the letter.

He pleaded that regular bail should be granted to the dera chief.

The chief had appeared in the Ambala court on October 4 and had moved a regular bail application in the three cases against him. On October 15, a voluminous reply was filed by the CBI challenging the bail application.