Indian city under siege after clashes over ‘rape guru’ kill 36

SIRSA, India: Hundreds of troops on Saturday laid siege to the headquarters of a sect led by a controversial Indian guru whose conviction for rape triggered deadly clashes that have killed at least 36 people.

Soldiers and riot police cordoned off the routes leading to the sprawling premises of guru Ram Rahim Singh spread over 1,000 acres (404 hectares) in Sirsa, a town in northern Haryana state.

A police source told AFP some 20,000 followers of guru´s Dera Sacha Sauda sect were believed to be holed up inside the mini township that houses schools, a hospital, various sports facilities and a cinema hall.

"The area has been put under curfew. The situation is tense but under control," he told AFP, requesting anonymity.

TV footage showed heavily armed security forces taking position outside the gated headquarters.

Army major general Rajpal Punia however said there were no plans as yet to storm the headquarters and evacuate the premises.

"We are only focusing on maintaining law and order," he told reporters.

The Press Trust of India news agency said 15 followers of the spiritual sect had been arrested for rioting and arson that broke out Friday in the cities of Panchkula and Sirsa, minutes after Singh was found guilty of raping two of his followers.

Police said at least 36 people were killed as tens of thousands of followers went on an angry rampage, attacking television vans and setting fire to dozens of vehicles.

"According to the latest update 30 people have died in Panchkula and six in Sirsa," Haryana police chief B. S. Sandhu told AFP.

More than 200 people were injured including about 50 police and security personnel, he added.

Authorities in Haryana, which is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi´s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party, faced flak over poor handling of the situation and allowing Singh to travel in a luxury chopper to the jail. —