Forensic test of letter ordered in sexual abuse case against dera chief

CHANDIGARH: The special CBI court in Panchkula on Monday sent the letter, allegedly written by victim sadhvi (woman disciple) to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, for examination to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) Chandigarh. The laboratory has to submit the report by April 18. The dera chief had claimed that the letter was written by the victim sadhvi, who has denied it.
On Monday, Gurmeet Singh appeared in the court through videoconferencing from Sirsa in the case of sexual abuse of sadhvis in the dera headquarters in Sirsa and in the murder cases of Ranjit Singh and journalist Ram Chander Chhatterpati. Rest of accused, who are currently lodged in Ambala jail, appeared in person.
In Ranjit murder case, the CBI judge allowed the accused dera head to produce 23 defence witnesses against the list of 53 submitted by defence counsel. In the murder case of Chhatterpati, the CBI opposed the two applications moved by the dera chief.
In the first application, the accused had sought the reexamination of a Haryana cop and the investigating officer of the CBI. In the second application, the dera head had sought the inspection of the alleged place of occurrence by the court. Terming it as wasteful exercise, the CBI had asked the court to dismiss the applications to resume the trial at the earliest.