Self-styled godman Rampal sentenced to life imprisonment for two murders

Self-styled godman Rampal and 14 of his followers were sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday by a sessions court in Haryana's Hisar in connection with two murder cases. Rampal, who ran the Satlok ashram, and the other convicts have been fined Rs 1 lakh each too. The convicts were found guilty of charges under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (punishment for murder), 343 (wrongful confinement for three or more days) and 120 B (punishment of criminal conspiracy).

Heavy security was deployed in Hisar and neighbourhood areas ahead of the pronouncing quantum of sentence. The 67-year-old founder of Satlok ashram in Hisar was found guilty of two murders and other offences, including wrongful confinement of his victims at his hermitage.

Hisar Additional District and Sessions Judge D R Chaliya had pronounced the judgement after nearly four-year-long trial in a makeshift court inside the Hisar district jail. The quantum of sentence in the murder case of one more woman will be pronounced on October 17, Wednesday.

Rampal and his followers have been lodged in the jail since their arrest in November 2014.

The two cases against Rampal and his followers were lodged at Barwala police station on November 19, 2014. The first one was lodged on the complaint of Shivpal of Mithapur near Badarpur in Delhi, while the second one was lodged by Suresh of Jakhora village of Lalitpur district in Uttar Pradesh.

Both of them had complained that their respective wives had been murdered inside Rampal's ashram at Barwala village where they had been held captive by the godman and his followers. 

On the day of judgement, Section 144 was imposed across Hisar district and around 2000 police personnel have been deployed, according to Ashok Kumar Meena, the District Collector.

With agency inputs