Special CBI judge in Panchkula Jagdeep Singh convicted Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh (51) and three others in the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati.

The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on January 17. The accused were convicted under section 302 and 120 B of the IPC. Ram Rahim Singh appeared through video conferencing for the hearing. He is currently serving a 20-year prison term for raping two of his women followers.

Ram Rahim was named the main conspirator in the case. Besides the Dera Chief, the CBI judge convicted Dera manager Krishnan Lal and two shooters Kuldeep Singh and Nirmal Singh in the murder of a journalist by a special court in Haryana. All the four accused have been convicted, HPS Verma, the lawyer for the Central Bureau of Investigation, told news agency PTI after judge Jagdeep Singh gave the verdict in Panchkula.

Ram Chander Chhatrapati was shot in October 2002 outside his house after his newspaper ''Poora Sach'' published an anonymous letter narrating how women were being sexually exploited by Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh at the Dera headquarters in Sirsa. The case was registered in 2003 and handed over to the CBI in 2006.

In May 2018 Khatta Singh, the former driver of rape convict Ram Rahim, a key witness in the murder case, told the Panchkula CBI court that Ram Rahim has ordered his men to eliminate the Sirsa-based journalist, in his presence.