Hisar standoff: As it happened on Wednesday

Chandigarh/Barwala: The Haryana Police is due to begin a massive operation on Wednesday to nab controversial sect leader Sant Rampal, who continues to evade law and defy the Haryana and Punjab High Court's order to surrender.

Barwala: Self-styled 'godman' Rampal was on Wednesday night arrested from his ashram, ending an over two-week tense standoff between his supporters and the police after close to 15,000 of his followers were evacuated from the sprawling premises.

The controversial 63-year-old will be produced in a Hisar court tomorrow.

DGP SN Vashisht said that Rampal had been taken into custody following an operation which was "very tough" since the forces had to deal with a hostile army of his commandos, as per PTI.

Panipat SP, B Sateesh Balan, who was among the five SPs of neighbouring Hisar who took part in the operation to hunt down the engineer-turned 'godman', said he did not surrender but was arrested from Satlok ashram where four women died mysteriously and two others in hospital in the midst of the showdown.

Following are the events as they unfolded:

• "Some more people have been evacuated after arrest, process going on," says Satendra Gupta, SP, Hisar, adding, "We have requested people again and again to come out, have also provided free bus facilities." 
• "Government faced a challenge for the first time. It’s a complete failure as people have died," says Ashok Tanwar, Haryana Congress president.
• "Our priority was to rescue people safely and arrest culprit. Government has been successful in its mission," says Jawahar Yadav, Haryana CM OSD, as per ANI.
• Rampal will be produced in Hisar court tomorrow, says SP, Panipat Satish Balan.
• Rampal arrested from his Hisar ashram, being taken to Chandigarh for medical check-up, as per reports.
• Haryana CM Khattar says operation to nab Rampal will "continue till he is arrested". He took to Twitter to put forward his views on the violence at Barwala.

Serious charges of sedition against Rampal & several followers by Haryana Police. Operations to continue till he is arrested from Ashram. — Manohar Lal Khattar (@mlkhattar) November 19, 2014

Govt. & Police are committed to ensure strict compliance of High Court orders, priority is to uphold the law without loss of innocent lives. — Manohar Lal Khattar (@mlkhattar) November 19, 2014

• Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh speaks to Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar over the prevailing situation in Hisar.

Spoke to Haryana Chief Minister Shri Manohar Lal Khattar @mlkhattar over the phone who apprised me of the prevailing situation in Hisar. — Rajnath Singh (@BJPRajnathSingh) November 19, 2014

• "Operation has gone better than expected, our forces and police personnel have done a commendable job, says Anil Kumar Rao," IG, adding, "Many phases of operation are complete, going to enter in final phase very soon."
• As authorities in Haryana mount pressure on 'godman' Rampal to appear before the High Court, Law Minister DV Sadananda Gowda refused to join issue, saying law and order is a state subject. "Law and order is a state subject. A direction has been issued by the (Punjab and Haryana) High Court, that needs to be implemented by the state government. It is not appropriate for me to comment at this juncture," he said, as per PTI.
  
• MoS, Home Kiren Rijiju says that situation was not a breakdown of law and order and that the Hissar incident was restricted to one ashram, as per reports.

• Congress leader Manish Tiwari takes a dig at BJP government for failing to arrest Rampal.

State&Central govt can't bring one a--la Rampal to justice. Shudder to imagine the namby pamby BJP response if confronted with a real crisis

— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) November 19, 2014

• Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar tries to talk to Rampal but his secretary cut the phone line. "Leaders should not think they are above the law. Simplicity and sacrifice should drive the leaders," he says.

I tried to contact Rampal to talk some sense. His secretary first agreed to connect and then kept disconnecting. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) November 19, 2014

Leaders should not think they are above the law. Simplicity & sacrifice should drive the leaders. — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) November 19, 2014

Events like this cause fear and disgust for religion and spirituality. #Rampal — Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (@SriSri) November 19, 2014

• Centre is sending 500 paramilitary personnel to deal with law and order situation in Hisar, a Home Ministry official says.
• Purshottam Das tried to evade arrest by posing as Rampal's supporters, says reports.
• Purshottam Das is being taken for interrogation by Haryana Police, say reports.
• Baba Rampal's close aide Purshottam Das has ben arrested from Hisar ashram, claim media reports.
• Centre has sought a detailed reports from the Haryana govt over Hisar situation, says reports.
• Centre is monitoring the situation in Hisar, claim MHA sources.
• The Home Ministry is reportedly upset with the Haryana govt for ignoring intelligence inputs, say MHA sources.
• Central agencies gave input to Haryana govt of a possible law and order situation in Hisar, claim sources.
• Security tightened outside Satlok ashram, additional forces reach Barwala.   
• We are giving safe passage to all those who want to come out: Anil Rao, IG, Haryana Police.
• Media reports claim Sant Rampal may surrender soon.
• "There is no scope for having any talks with Sant Rampal. I would still suggest him to surrender before us"
• We have yet not entered the ashram. We haven't fired even a single gunshot yet, says DGP
• There is no intelligence failure on our side. We have cordoned the ashram now, our focus is on saving people, claims Haryana Police chief
• "I'm in constant touch with Delhi Police chief and Chandigarh IGP for not letting followers reassemble there"
• “We are sure we will succeed in arresting Sant Rampal and keeping every innocent supporter safe”
• My force is trying its best to save the people from ashram and arrest Rampal as soon as possible: says DGP
• A case of sedition has been slapped on Sant Rampal and his supporters, says Haryana DGP
• Haryana DGP confirms that self styled Godman Rampal is still hiding inside the Satlok ashram
• DGP denies reports that two Haryana policemen were killed in the standoff
• Post-mortem of dead bodies currently under way, says DGP
• Cause of their deaths are to be figured out: SN Vashisht
• They have been identified as Savita 31, Santosh (45), Malkit Kaur of Sangroor and Rajbala of Bijnore, says DGP
• Today morning, dead bodies of 4 women found near the ashram were handed over to the hospital: DGP
• Haryana DGP confirms six deaths so far.
• After 10 pm last night, around 2000 supporters left Rampal's ashram, more are leaving: DGP
• Over 10,000 people have been evacuated so far, says Haryana DGP
• No deadline has been set, we will wait till all innocent people come out of the ashram  
• Over 5000 supporters are still inside the ashram, says Haryana DGP SN Vashisht
• Local villagers in Hisar offer food and water to police as they want Sant Rampal's Satlok Ashram demolished.
• Water and power supply to the Satlok Ashram has been cut, confirms Haryana police
• Haryana's Agroha Medical College officials say the woman brought from Rampal ashram died of heart attack and her infant due to hepatitis.
• Sources claim that women and children are being used as human shields.
• The police confirms that a middle-aged woman and an 18-month-old baby have died in a hospital this morning.
• Two people have reportedly died in the aftermath of violent clashes between the police and Sant Rampal's supporters.
• A fresh case has also been lodged against Sant Rampal and his supporters at the Barwala Police Station.
• The state administration claims over 10,000 people have been evacuated from the ashram so far.
• The police is still clueless whether Sant Rampal is staying inside the Satlok ashram.
• The Haryana Police, which yesterday failed to arrest Sant Rampal and produce him before the state high court after more than six hours of concerted action, issues a fresh warning asking his supporters to vacate the ashram peacefully by 10 am after the operation to arrest the godman will begin.

In the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday, the police safely evacuated a large number of Sant Rampal's supporters, who claimed that they were forced to stay inside the Satlok ashram, and sent them to Hisar in state government buses and police vehicles.

The local authorities had earlier cut off water and power supply to the ashram and the police appealed to Sant Rampal's supporters to vacate the premises. Several supporters of the godman are still believed to be inside the ashram to put pressure on the law enforcement agencies and prevent police from arresting their spiritual head. The followers were from Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.

The Haryana government's decision to use force to arrest the controversial sect leader from his ashram near Barwala led to violence after his followers fought pitched battles with security forces to prevent them from entering the ashram premises yesterday.

Hundreds of people, including nearly 110 policemen, were injured as sect followers fired openly at the police, lobbed petrol bombs and acid pouches, besides hurling stones and bricks outside the ashram in Haryana's Hisar district. Ashram spokesman Raj Kapoor claimed that four women were killed in the police operation.

Haryana Director General of Police SN Vashisht, however, denied the claim, saying, "No deaths have occurred in the (police) operation. A total of 109 policemen were injured." "Innocent people inside are being held hostage," Vashisht said.

The police action came after a stand-off of nearly 10 days. The police launched the operation Tuesday afternoon to arrest the self-styled godman and produce him in the Punjab and Haryana High Court which has issued non-bailable warrants against him.

The 23-day-old BJP government in Haryana led by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar drew flak from various quarters for its inept handling of the Rampal episode. The Khattar government allowed hundreds of followers of the sect to assemble at the ashram over the last few days, before launching the operation to arrest Rampal. Sect followers, who were shielded in the front by women and children, rained missiles from the rooftop of the ashram complex whose outer walls are about 25 feet tall.

Minor explosions were heard as petrol bombs were thrown when police in large numbers tried to enter the ashram. Sect followers set on fire a JCB excavator which had been brought to the site by security forces to break a wall of the ashram complex. Other vehicles were also set on fire or damaged.

Smoke could be seen on the roof of the ashram. A sect spokesman claimed, however, that Rampal was not in the complex and that he was in a hospital outside Haryana. Police fired tear gas and used water cannons against the hundreds of followers.

Several media persons covering the stand-off and clash were injured when the police carried out an unprovoked attack on them. The cameras of many journalists were broken. Haryana DGP SN Vashisht said the police attack on the media would be "looked into" after the operation against the ashram gets over.

Asked about the whereabouts of Rampal, he said, "Our information is that Rampal is inside the ashram. Our strategy is to take out the baba (Rampal) and save the women and children."

Police sources said over 20,000 security personnel, including the Central Reserve Police Force, Rapid Action Force and Haryana Police, had ringed the ashram complex, which is spread over 12 acres of land.

The sect leader has been avoiding arrest and has failed to appear before the Punjab and Haryana High Court although non-bailable warrants were issued against him Nov 5. Rampal's supporters had indulged in vandalism in a court in Hisar in July this year when he was going there in connection with a 2006 murder conspiracy case. The high court took suo motu notice of the incident and summoned Rampal.

Supporters of the sect leader held a protest in New Delhi Tuesday and demanded a CBI probe into the allegations against him. A five-member team of supporters also met President Pranab Mukherjee and submitted a memorandum requesting a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.