GODMAN GUILTY,

RAM RAHIM VERDICT

At least 30 people were killed on Friday after followers of controversial “godman” Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh rampaged across Haryana and Punjab, clashing with police and setting fire to vehicles and railway stations to protest against his conviction in the 2002 rape of two women.

Police said most of the deaths occurred in Panchkula, where Singh, the head of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, was convicted in a highly guarded CBI court earlier in the day. Two deaths were reported from Sirsa, the sect’s headquarters. At least 200 were injured.

Minutes after the verdict, the flashy guru’s hysterical followers, who had gathered in the thousands to protest his innocence, began targeting vehicles and offices with sticks and stones, turning the streets of Panchkula into a virtual war zone. They also set fire to a petrol pump, vandalised a five-star hotel and beat up journalists and damaged their vehicles and equipment. Plumes of smoke from burning vehicles and tear gas shells rose high above the town’s tree-lined streets.

Police first used batons and water cannons, and finally fired to disperse the followers of Singh, a burly man with black Santa Claus beard who has scripted and starred in his own films.

Vivek Bhadu, the chief medical officer at the civil hospital in Panchkula, said most of the deaths were from bullet wounds.

Violence was also reported from beyond Haryana.

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