Citing Dera tension, verdict on 2 cases against Rampal deferred

Deepender Deswal

Tribune News Service

Hisar, August 24

A local court on Thursday deferred a verdict in two criminal cases against self-styled godman Rampal to August 29.

Rampal has been in jail since a violent confrontation with the police in November 2014 at Satlok Ashram near Barwala.  The court fixed the next date after the Hisar Police requested it citing tension in Haryana in view of the hearing on Dera Sacha Sauda sect chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. 

The court of Judicial Magistrate (first class) Mukesh Kumar has completed the process of evidence in the FIR numbers 426 and 427 registered in Barwala police station on November 17 and November 18 in 2015, respectively.

Rampal had resisted the police operation to arrest him on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court while holed up inside his Satlok Ashram in Barwala town of Hisar. The standoff turned violent resulting in death of five persons and injuries to several others.

Among the accused are Rampal and some of his key associates, including Purshotam Dass , Rajkumar, Mahinder Singh, Rajender Singh and Rajkapoor.

Rampal is presently lodged in Hisar district jail.  

Sources said the accused were facing charges under Sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), and 342 (wrongful confinement) of the IPC in the two criminal cases. The court can deliver the verdict in both the cases today.