Self-styled godman Rampal convicted in 2 murder cases
A Hisar court on Thursday convicted self-styled godman Rampal and 28 others in two murder cases. The verdict was announced by Additional District and Sessions judge DR Chalia. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on October 16 and 17.
A special court was set up inside Hisar’s Central Jail-1 to pronounce the judgment via video conference. He was convicted under Sections 302 (murder), 120(b) (criminal conspiracy) and 343 of the Indian Penal Code.
Rampal and his supporters were charged with murder and wrongful confinement after four women and a child were found dead at the Satlok Ashram in Hisar’s Barwala town on November 19, 2014.
In 2014, when the police went to arrest him to produce him before the Punjab and Haryana High Court for the 2006 murder case, his followers formed a human shield around him and sieged the ashram. The supporters resorted to violence using guns, batons, stones and acid. The police finally arrested him after days of standoff.
Self-styled godman Rampal has been convicted in both the murder cases and the court will pronounce the sentence on October 16 and 17. Section 144 has been imposed in Haryana’s Hisar. #RampalVerdicthttps://t.co/6Q96sUlQ1m
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) October 11, 2018
Rampal was also accused of murder of a woman at the Satlok Ashram in 2006 during clashes between the followers of Rampal and those of the Arya Samaj.
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 is the founder of the Satlok Ashram in Barwala and a follower and worshipper of the 15th-century poet and mystic Kabir, who is known for his message of tolerance. He is the head of a religious sect called Kabir Panth.
