Anshul Chhatrapati, the son of murdered Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chandra Chhatrapati, on Friday accused all political parties of shielding jailed Dera Sacha…
Anshul Chhatrapati (Photo: SNS)
Anshul Chhatrapati, the son of murdered Sirsa-based journalist Ram Chandra Chhatrapati, on Friday accused all political parties of shielding jailed Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim for their political gains.
Ram Chhatrapati was murdered in 2002 for publishing an anonymous letter alleging that Gurmeet raped women in his ‘Dera’.
Speaking to reporters at Chandigarh Press Club, Anshul said that then Indian National Lok Dal government helped the Dera chief by influencing the police investigation in the case.
Advertisement
Anshul said the same continued under the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana with the party exerting pressure on the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to stall the case.
He said even the a CBI team was forced to come to Sirsa to question Gurmeet after he didn’t attend the questioning in agency’s Delhi headquarter even after three notices and added that close aide of then Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder had come to Sirsa to exert pressure on the CBI officials to leave without questioning the Dera chief.
Anshul said he had information that Union minister Preneet Kaur Badal along with Shiromani Akali Dal legislators had allegedly exerted pressure on the CBI to end the murder case against the Dera chief.
He said after the BJP came to power in Haryana, its ministers have been visiting the Dera to get Gurmeet’s blessings and also donated money from their discretionary funds to the DSS.
“Be it the INLD, the Congress, Akali Dal or the BJP, all were with the Dera chief as they wanted the votes of DSS followers. Whoever, succeeded in striking a deal with the Dera chief for votes, he became a good man for them ” Anshul said.
To a particular question on whether he favoured a particular political ideology as he had named certain Congress leaders of attempting to pressure CBI investigation, he categorically replied, “All political parties whether in power or in opposition have always given lip-service when they were in power, but none really helped me when they came to power.”
Advertisement
