Two Dozen Dead In Northern India; Riots Erupt Following Rape Verdict On Spiritual Guru

Angry supporters of “godman” Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh rampaged through several places in northern India on Friday following an elite Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) found him guilty of sexually assaulting two female former members of his 69-year-old Dera Sacha Sauda sect in 2002.

CBI has also alleged the self-styled guru involved in murdering a journalist in the same year who was investigating the sect headquarters.

The one of the most powerful men in the country has been taken to judicial custody after the verdict and his punishment will be decided on August 28, Monday. The minimum prison period for rape victim in India is seven years. Rape is also a non-bailable offence in India.

About two dozen people have been killed and tons of others injured in riots and violence in several places of northern India. Mobile internet, cable television and electricity supplies were cut in the affected areas before the verdict.

Television footage showed a railway station and petrol pump rampaged, and several vehicles were set of fire. Media crew were attacked too. Indian states of Haryana, Punjab and Delhi are put on high alert.

Ram Rahim runs the Dera Sacha Sauda sect from its headquarters in Haryana on a sprawling 1,000-acre property including several schools, a cricket stadium, cinema hall and hotel.

United States embassy in Indian capital has urged its citizen in India to remain alert and avoid going out in the affected areas.