Chandigarh,
Khatta Singh, a former driver of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, again recorded his statement before the Special CBI Court in Panchkula on Saturday. He also confirmed his earlier statement that Ram Rahim had ordered the murder of Sirsa journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

Khatta Singh had earlier retracted his statement recorded before the CBI as well as before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

On Saturday, Khatta Singh, 57, first apologised to the court for resiling from his statement earlier. He said, “He was under tremendous pressure due to the threat to his life”. However, he gained “confidence and courage to make a statement without any fear and pressure as accused Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh is behind bars for rapes”.

He told the court that he became a follower of Dera Sacha Sauda in 1970. Ram Rahim became its head in 1990. He said that, “I used to visit Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa, every morning and evening and hence grew proximity to Gurmeet Ram Rahim”. He was appointed the driver of personal vehicles of the dera head during 1996-97.

In May 2002, an anonymous letter about sexual exploitation of women followers was published in newspapers and circulated among people. Gurmeet Ram Rahim then directed dera managers Krishan Lal and Inder Sain, and members of the dera management Darshan Singh and Avtar Singh to identify the person who circulated the photocopies of the anonymous letter, said Khatta Singh. They suspected Ranjit Singh, a resident of Kurukshetra and member of the management, was behind it. Ranjit Singh was murdered on July 10, 2002.

On October 23, 2002, Ram Rahim had met Krishan Lal, Nirmal SIngh and Kuldeep Singh in his ‘gufa’ at Sirsa where they showed him the copy of newspaper ‘Poora Sach’ that had published the anonymous letter. “I was present there at that time. After going through the contents of the news, Gurmeet Ram Rahim got very angry and directed manager Krishan Lal, Nirmal SIngh and Kuldeep Singh that before Ram Chander Chhatrapati (who owned ‘Poora Sach’) again publishes any other article or news in his newspaper about him or the activities of the dera, his voice be silenced forever,” Khatta Singh told the court.

He added that Krishan Lal then left the gufa and after sometime returned with a walky-talky set and his revolver and handed over these to Nirmal Singh and Kuldeep Singh in Ram Rahim’s presence. He said that Krishan Lal directed them to keep informing him about the developments on the walky-talky set.

According to his version, he then left for Delhi on October 24, 2002, and by the evening he received a call that Chhatrapati was shot at and Kuldeep Singh had been apprehended. Soon after, Nirmal Singh and Krishan Lal were also apprehended. Chhatrapati died on November 20, 2002. Khatta Singh said that he wanted to disclose all facts when the case was handed over to the CBI in 2003 but dera members were keeping a watch on him. He met DIG, CBI, M.Narayanan on June 21, 2007, and told him about Ram Rahim’s involvement in the crime. The next day, the DIG got his statement recorded before a magistrate.