Self-styled godman Sant Rampal convicted in two murder cases

Hisar, October 11: Self-styled godman Sant Rampal was convicted in two murder cases on Thursday by a Hisar court. The quantum of sentence will be announced on October 16 and 17. Rampal is currently lodged at Hisar’s Central Jail-2. In November 2015, after a two-week long stand-off between his followers and police, he was arrested. The violence had left six people dead and several others injured.

 

After the verdict on Thursday, security has been tightened in Hisar. Rail services to the district from different parts of the country have already been stopped. The two cases against the controversial godman relate to the murder of six people during violent clashes between his supporters and the Haryana Police at his Satlok Ashram near Barwala town in Hisar district, around 245 km from here.

Earlier, the Hisar court in August 2017, had acquitted Rampal in two cases of wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly and disobedience to order given by a public servant.

Rampal was facing other cases of murder conspiracy, sedition and rioting. He and his close aides, including his private army, had resisted the police action to arrest him on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court while holed up inside his Satlok Ashram in November 2014.

Five women and an infant had lost their lives as Rampal continued to elude the police. The high court had ordered his arrest as he had failed to appear before the law. Rampal's supporters had indulged in vandalism in a court in Hisar in July 2014 when he was going there in connection with a 2006 murder conspiracy case.

The high court had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident and summoned Rampal.