A special CBI court in Panchkula on Tuesday deferred the sentencing of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim, who has been convicted of conspiring to murder his former manager, Ranjit Singh, in 2002.

The Central Bureau of Investigation sought death sentence for Ram Rahim, who in turn pleaded for mercy via video-conference from the Rohtak jail, where is serving a 20-year term for raping two followers.

The special CBI court had convicted the dera head and four others on October 8 in the Ranjit Singh murder case.

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The hearing on Tuesday began amid tight security. The authorities imposed prohibitory orders in the area in view of the violence reported after his conviction in a rape case in August 2017 in which 36 people were killed in Panchkula alone.

Ranjit Singh, a former follower of Ram Rahim, was shot dead by four assailants on July 10, 2002, at his native Khanpur Kolian village in Kurukshetra district.

Murdered for revealing sexual abuse at dera: CBI

According to the CBI, Ranjit Singh was murdered as Ram Rahim suspected that he was behind the circulation of an anonymous letter that revealed the sexual exploitation of woman followers at the dera. In June 2002, Ranjit Singh was summoned to the dera and threatened with dire consequences, but he refused to seek pardon, saying he had done nothing wrong.

The dera head is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two followers and has been sentenced to life for the murder of a journalist in 2002.

Violence after first conviction in rape case

There were mainly three cases against the Sirsa-based dera chief in 2002-03. All were investigated by the CBI. The dera chief has been convicted in two cases, one related to sexual exploitation of women disciples and the second of the murder of journalist Ram Chander Chhatrapati. The third case was of Ranjit Singh in which he was convicted on Friday. The first conviction in the sexual exploitation case in August 2017 had resulted in widespread violence in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.