Self-styled godman Rampal held guilty in two murder cases

HISAR: A local court here on Thursday convicted Rampal, a self-styled godman of Satlok Ashram in Haryana’s Hisar districrt, along with 28 of his followers in two separate cases of murder and other offences, including wrongful confinement of his victims at his ashram.

Additional district and sessions judge D R Chaliya pronounced the verdict after nearly four-year-long trial of the 29 accused in a makeshift court inside the Hisar district jail, where Rampal,67, and his followers have been lodged since their arrest in November 2014.

The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on October 16 and October 17.

The two murder cases against Rampal date back to November 2014. The first case involves the death of a woman in the Satlok Ashram on November 18. In the second case, Rampal and his 28 followers were booked on charges of murder and wrongful confinement after four women and a child were found dead in Satlok Ashram on November 19.

The two cases against Rampal and his followers were lodged at Barwala police station on November 19, 2014. The first one was lodged on the complaint of one Shivpal of Mithapur near Badrapur in Delhi, while the second one was lodged by Suresh of Jakhora village of Lalitpur district in Uttar Pradesh. Both of them had complained of their respective wives’ murders inside Rampal’s ashram, where, they had said, the two women were held captive and later killed.

Thousands of his followers had clashed with police when they had come to arrest him following directions of the Punjab and Haryana high court over contempt of court.

Rampal was arrested on November 19, 2014 on charges of murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy, holding illegal weapons, abetting suicide and waging war against government of India.

The Hisar district administration, meanwhile, has made elaborate arrangements to ensure there is no law and order problem in the district after the pronouncement of sentences to the ‘godman’ and his followers.

Authorities have deployed more than 4,000 police personnel, the Rapid Action Force (RAF) and paramilitary troops. Deputy commissioner Ashok Kumar Meena said, “The forces will be in Hisar to maintain law and order. And the prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CRPC) will in force and no one will be allowed to breach the law and order situation.”

He said more than 50 Rampal followers, mostly from Uttar Pradesh, had reached Hisar on Wednesday night by bus. The police identified them and sent them back to their homes.

The police and paramilitary forces also took out flag march in various parts of the city on Wednesday evening.