Six followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda were arrested on Friday for vandalising a petrol pump in the Kotkapura area of Haryana’s Faridkot district on August 25, the day the religious cult group’s chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted in a rape case, Hindustan Times reported.
So far, 21 men have been booked in connection with the case. The mob had plotted to set the petrol pump on fire, but the staff had cut off the supply in time.
In the CCTV footage collected from the fuel bunk, the accused can be seen vandalising the site and threatening customers. At one point, they are seen attacking a Toyota Innova at the petrol pump before the driver managed to flee.
“Youths vandalising the petrol station were identified after the incident was captured by CCTV cameras,” Station House Officer of the Sadar Police Station KC Parashar told Hindustan Times.
The Haryana Police also arrested seven men for setting a telephone exchange on fire in Barnala’s Channanwal village on August 25. “One of the eight booked for causing damage of Rs 1.4 lakh to equipment and furniture, besides building loss, is at large,” Station House Officer Kamaljit Singh told Hindustan Times.
On August 25, a Central Bureau of Investigation court in Haryana’s Panchkula held Ram Rahim guilty in two rape cases. On Monday, the Dera chief was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping two of his followers in 2002. The police were criticised for inefficiency after 36 people died and over 250 were injured in the violence that erupted after the verdict.
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