Spiritual Guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh approaches Haryana and Punjab High Court

The Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, challenging a special CBI court's verdict sentencing him to 20 years in prison for raping two sadhvis (female followers). The special CBI court in Panchkula on August 28 had sentenced Ram Rahim to 20 years in prison after his conviction. Related Post: Spiritual guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty of Rape & quot We have filed an appeal today in the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the sentence of the CBI court,& quot said defence counsel Vishal Garg Narwana. He said the CBI sentence has been challenged on several grounds & quot One of the grounds of challenge was that there was a delay of more than six years in recording the statements of the victims by the CBI after the incident took place,& quot the defence counsel added. The CBI had claimed that the two women followers were sexually exploited in 1999 but the investigating agency recorded their statement in 2005. He alleged that the CBI had also concealed some portion of the victim's' statement. Ram Rahim was convicted by the special CBI court on August 25, following which violence and arson had erupted in Panchkula and Sirsa districts which left 41 people dead and scores of injured. Related Post: Security increased for CBI judge who convicted spiritual guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim The judge pronounced two sentences of 10 years rigorous imprisonment in each of the two rapes that date back to 2002. The spiritual guru is currently in Sunaria jail in Rohtak district of Panchkula. In April 2002, an anonymous letter was written to the then chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, complaining about the alleged sexual exploitation of women followers at the Dera Sacha Sauda headquarters in Sirsa. In May 2002, the high court directed the Sirsa district and session judge to investigate the allegations in the letter. In September 2002, the high court handed over the matter to the CBI after the district court indicated the possibility of sexual exploitation In December 2002, the Central Bureau of Investigation registered cases related to rape, criminal intimidation against spiritual Guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim. The CBI filed a charge sheet against the Dera head in Ambala court in July 2007. The charge sheet mentioned the sexual exploitation of two 'sadhvis' between 1999 and 2001.