Violence in Punjab as Dera sect followers torch vehicles, properties
Moga/Chandigarh: Dera Sacha Sauda sect followers, who were protesting against the filing of murder charges against their chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, turned violent on Saturday and set fire to at least three trains and rioted in various parts of Punjab and Haryana. Dera followers set afire a compartment each of the Ferozepur-Ludhiana Sutlej Express and two local passenger trains in Punjab. They also damaged railway property at Tapa, Moga and Kalaiyat in Punjab. Protesters
torched six state-owned buses in Moga and stoned vehicles in different parts of
Punjab and Haryana. Reports said a post office was set on fire at Talwandi Sabo
in Bhatinda, and two Haryana Roadways buses were also set afire. The protestors
also blocked traffic on the Ambala-Hissar highway at Kaithal. In 1991, the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) booked Singh for the murder of former dera manager
Faqir Chand. Chand's body was never found and the CBI had conducted an inquiry
into this on court orders. Besides Singh, the CBI had booked four other members
of the sect for murder, destroying evidence and hatching a criminal conspiracy.
