With 36 people killed in the violence triggered by supporters of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda sect, authorities are now establishing the identity of the dead and conducting post-mortems.
“We have 17 bodies here; post-mortem examination is being carried out ... We will inform the police once it is over. They will inform the families after identification is completed,” V.K. Bansal, chief medical officer at the civil hospital in Panchkula, told The Hindu .
The Haryana government on Saturday said that no resident of Panchkula, the epicentre of the violence, had been reported missing, injured or killed.
Director-General of Police, Haryana, B.S. Sandhu said that while 30 people were killed in Panchkula, six causalities were reported from Sirsa. “As many as 34 cases have been registered till now by the police in the entire episode, and 552 people have been arrested. Investigations are under way,” he said. “The process of identification [of the bodies] has started and so far, we have identified 13 bodies and their families are being informed.”
Sedition cases
Haryana Chief Secretary D.S. Dhesi told presspersons that two cases of sedition had been registered against Dera followers and investigation was under way. “During the operation, the police recovered one AK 47 rifle and one Mauser rifle from the vehicle of a Dera follower, and two rifles and five pistols were recovered from another vehicle,” he said.
He said peace was prevailing throughout the State and all security arrangements had been made for Monday, when the quantum of sentence would be decided.
As many as 101 companies of paramilitary forces have been deployed in the State, while the Army has been deployed in Panchkula and Sirsa. Curfew has been relaxed in Panchkula and Sirsa, he said. Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Ram Niwas said that the efficient action taken by the security forces to disperse the violent mob in about three-and-a-half hours had prevented the situation from worsening.
Haryana Deputy Advocate-General Gurdass Singh Salwara was sacked as he was seen carrying the luggage of the Dera chief while the latter was taken to Rohtak.
High security in Punjab
Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh said the State had beefed up security at vital installations and was ready to enforce curfew in sensitive areas again, if needed. “It has also been decided to extend the ban on mobile data services in the State till Tuesday (August 29),” he said, adding that 19 potential trouble-makers had been taken into preventive custody and the crackdown would continue ahead of the sentencing. The main leaders of Dera Sacha Sauda, who are likely to instigate followers, are either being taken into confidence or arrested.
Capt. Singh said the curfew had been lifted in three districts and relaxed in the other areas.
He said that police officers had visited all the 98 ‘Naam Sacha Ghars’ of the Dera in the State and recovered lathis, pipes, rods, axes and petrol bombs.
