The tense and violent standoff between the Haryana police and Sant Rampal ended on Wednesday night after the fugitive godman was arrested from the besieged Satlok Ashram in Barwala, Hisar.
Rampal was immediately whisked away in an ambulance for medical check-up at Hisar where he is likely to be produced in court, Inspector General of Police (Hisar Range) Anil Kumar Rao said. The godman has to be produced before the Punjab and Hayana High Court in Chandigarh by November 21 in connection with a murder case.
About 270 people have been detained, 20 of them for participating in the violence. Among those arrested are the spokesperson for the ashram, Raj Kapoor, Rampal’s associate Purshottam Das and about 150 private security personnel of the ashram.
The siege claimed the lives of six persons — five women and an infant. The police said bodies of four women were handed over to the authorities in the morning and it is unclear how they died. The child and another woman died in hospital due to medical reasons, Haryana Director General of Police S.N. Vashisht said.
Before arresting the godman, the police managed to evacuate 15,000 of his followers. The first batch of about 2,000 followers came out of the ashram late on Tuesday night, Mr Vashisht said.
They were taken to railway stations and bus stands in Hisar and Jind by the police before being packed off to their home towns.
Later more people, who the police claimed were held captive in the ashram for over a week, left the ashram.
