Rampal arrested from his ashram

Barwala: Self-styled 'godman' Rampal was arrested on Wednesday night from his ashram, ending an over two-week tense standoff between his supporters and the police after close to 15,000 of his followers were evacuated from the sprawling premises.

The controversial 63-year-old baba will be produced in a Hisar court tomorrow, Superintendent of Police, Panipat, Satish Balan told reporters.

Police arrested Rampal from Satlok ashram where four women died mysteriously and two others in hospital in the midst of a showdown.

On a day of high drama, Rampal stuck to his defiant stand of not surrendering despite repeated announcements by the police asking him to do so. Police said he had not surrendered but was arrested.

Simultanerously, many followers including women with children stuck inside trooped out, many of them complaining that they were forcibly kept inside the ashram with its gates kept locked.

Haryana Police slapped fresh cases, including the serious charge of sedition, against Rampal who will be produced in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday, the deadline set by the court.

Police said 70 supporters of the Rampal, most of them his 'private commandos', who indulged in violence yesterday, were arrested and produced before the local court which sent them to judicial custody till December 3.

Those arrested, include son of Rampal and chief volunteer Purushottam Dass, a cousin of the 'godman'.

Unlike yesterday, when the vicinity of the ashram in this town of Hisar district looked like a war-zone when police and Rampal's supporters clashed, including small arm firing from inside, the situation was peaceful today.

More than 10,000 followers, including aged men and women and children, who had been holed up inside the ashram for days, came out with raised hands, signalling peace. The desertion continued till late in the night.

By late evening, a large posse of CRPF personnel were brought to the periphery of the ashram. The Centre had also despatched 500 CRPF personnel to help the operations.

Earlier, the Centre appeared to be unhappy over the way the issue was being handled. Union Minister Rajnath Singh is understood to have told Haryana Chief Minister M L Khattar to end the standoff quickly.

"The state government is proceeding carefully and cautiously to arrest Sant Rampal," Khattar said later.

While the clashes yesterday left over 200 injured, police today announced that bodies of four women were handed over to them by the ashram staff. Another woman and a one-and-a-half year old baby were taken in serious condition to a hospital where they died.

It was not clear what caused their death. State police chief S N Vashisht said there were no external injuries and only a post-mortem will reveal the real reason of death.