Self-styled godman Rampal gets second life term

In this file photo dated November 20, 2014, self-styled godman Rampal was photographed in Sirsa. A Hisar court on October 16, 2018 has awarded life imprisonment to Rampal in connection with two murder cases

Chandigarh: A court in Haryana's Hisar town on Wednesday awarded another life sentence to self-styled godman Rampal in the murder of a woman. He has been in prison since November 2014. The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge D.R. Chalia awarded the life sentence to him along with his son Virender and 12 others.

On Tuesday, the same court awarded life sentence to the godman along with 14 others for the murder of four women and one child. The two murder cases against him relate to the murder of six people during violent clashes between his supporters and Haryana Police at his Satlok Ashram near Barwala town in Hisar, around 245 km from here.

Rampal's counsel A.P. Singh said the decision would be challenged in a higher court. Earlier, the Hisar court in August 2017, had acquitted Rampal in two cases of wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly and disobedience to order given by a public servant.

Rampal was facing other cases of murder conspiracy, sedition and rioting. He and his close aides, including his private army, had resisted the police action to arrest him on the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court while holed up inside his Satlok Ashram in November 2014.

The five women and the infant had lost their lives as Rampal continued to elude the police. The high court had ordered his arrest as he had failed to appear before the law. Rampal's supporters had indulged in vandalism in a court in Hisar in July 2014 when he was going there in connection with a 2006 murder conspiracy case. The high court had taken suo motu cognizance of the incident and summoned Rampal.

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