The tricity (comprising Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali) is on the edge as the verdict in the rape case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim is expected on Friday. The presence of thousands of Dera followers in Panchkula has forced the administration to take unprecedented precautionary measures to ensure law and order.

The rape allegations against Singh date back to 2002, when an anonymous letter reached the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, wherein the sender narrated how Ram Rahim raped her and many other at the sect’s headquarters in Sirsa. As per the content of the letter, she and 35-40 others were sexually exploited for three years.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court then took the suo motu notice of the letter, and the matter was referred to the CBI in September 2002. Eighteen sadhvis (woman followers) were questioned by the CBI and two of them came on record to level allegations of sexual exploitation against Ram Rahim. One of them said that her sexual exploitation was justified on the grounds that it would “purify” her.

The CBI recorded the statements of the two women under Section 164 of CrPC, meaning their testimonies were admissible in the court of law as evidence.

The case took a murkier turn when Dera member Ranjit Singh was murdered on 10 July 2002. There were apprehensions that Ranjit was eliminated as he was being suspected of drafting the anonymous letter.

Then on 23 October 2002, journalist Ram Chander Chattrapati – the editor of Poora Sach, a local daily from Sirsa – was shot dead. Chattrapati had reported on the ‘nefarious’ happenings within the Dera Sacha Sauda and he was receiving threats for some time.

The CBI filed a chargesheet on 30 July 2007 and the trial against Ram Rahim began in 2008. He was charged under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Ram Rahim has consistently dismissed the charges against him as false and baseless. In 2014, he even conveyed to the Panchkula court that “he was not fit to indulge in physical relationships.

The judgment in the case will be pronounced by the CBI court in Panchkula on Friday afternoon.