Ram Rahim verdict
Ram Rahim sentencing: Situation in Haryana tense, Patiala under curfew
Chandigarh: Haryana and Punjab ordered schools and colleges shut, suspended mobile services, stepped up security and threw a five-tier cordon around a Rohtak jail, where on Monday a judge will hand out punishment to self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for raping two disciples.
The 50-year-old Dera Sacha Sauda leader was on Friday found guilty in the 15-year-old rape case. Within minutes of the verdict, his followers ran riot and clashed with security forces, leaving 38 people dead and 250 injured. While 32 people were killed in Panchkula, where the case was heard, six died in Sirsa, the headquarters of the sect.
#Visuals of security close to Rohtak’s Sunaria jail, ahead of sentencing of #DeraSachaSauda Chief #RamRahimSingh #Haryana pic.twitter.com/xP4Zejv25U
— ANI (@ANI) August 28, 2017
A multi-layer security cordon manned by police and 23 companies of paramilitary forces has been thrown in and around Rohtak and also around the Sonaria Jail where Ram Rahim is lodged.
A special CBI court near Rohtak town in Haryana will at 2.30pm begin hearing arguments on the quantum of punishment, which could range from seven years to life imprisonment, in the district jail at Sunaria where the flamboyant Dera Sacha Sauda chief is lodged.
A CBI special court judge, Jagdeep Singh, is expected to leave from Panchkula court complex in another 10 minutes. The authorities have imposed a curfew in Patiala.
