A CBI court on Saturday framed charges against five members of Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda in connection with the murder of a fellow sect member, suspected to be behind the circulation of an anonymous letter containing certain allegations against Dera chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh.

Special Judge, CBI Court, R K Saini framed charges against the five -- Kishan Lal, Avtar Singh, Inder Saini, Jasbir Singh and Sabdil Singh -- in the Ranjeet murder case.

Ranjeet, a resident of Kurukshetra, who was in the ten member high-powered management committee looking after the functioning of the Dera, was murdered on July 10, 2002.

Some of the functionaries of Dera had suspected that Ranjit was behind the circulation of the anonymous letter in which various kinds of allegations had been levelled against Dera head.

The police had arrested Krishan Lal, the manager of the Dera and four others in connection with the murder case in August 2002. Later, on the direction of Punjab and Haryana High Court, the investigation was handed over to the CBI.

CBI had filed its chargesheet in this court in November last year. A supplementary chargesheet was also filed in January 2006.

The CBI had also recovered a car and the weapon used in the murder of Ranjeet.

The investigating agency is already investigating two other cases against the Dera including murder of Sirsa-based journalist and charges of sexual exploitation of a 'Sadhvi.'

The Dera chief had recently been in conflict with the Sikh clergy which accused him of blasphemy for wearing a dress similar to that of Sikh Guru Govind Singh.