Mobs rampage in north India leaves 32 killed

Mobs rampaged across a north Indian state on Friday, leaving 32 people dead and more than 250 others injured, after a court declared a quasi-religious sect leader guilty of raping two of his followers, authorities said.

According to local media reports, mobs set fire to government buildings and attacked police and TV journalists in the town of Panchkula in Haryana state, smashing the windshields of news vans and breaking broadcast equipment.

Police initially used tear gas and water cannons and then fired bullets in the air in an attempt to control the surging mobs as they vandalized bus stations and government vehicles.

"The situation is tense. There has been arson and burning," Rajiv Mehrishi, the federal home secretary, said late Friday.

Authorities said 32 people had been killed after rioting broke out in Haryana, where many areas were now under curfew.

"The situation continues to be grim but we are gaining some ground. Hopefully we will mobilize more forces in the night to take control," a senior state official told AFP on condition of anonymity. 

B.S. Sandhu, a top Haryana police official, said more than 1,000 of the guru's supporters had been detained in Panchkula on charges of arson and destruction of public property.

The special court announced the guilty verdict on Friday after hearing closing arguments in the 15-year-old case against the guru, who calls himself Saint Dr. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insaan.

The guru, who had denied the charges of raping the two women at his ashram in 2002, was flown by helicopter to a jail in the nearby town of Rohtak because district officials feared they would be overrun by his supporters. His sentencing is to be held Aug. 28, prosecutor H.P.S. Verma said.

Tens of thousands of followers had camped overnight awaiting the verdict.

Violence also broke out elsewhere in Haryana and the neighboring state of Punjab, as well as in the capital, New Delhi, police said. Railway stations in the towns of Malout and Balluana were ablaze, and two coaches of an empty train parked in New Delhi's Anand Vihar station were set on fire.

A curfew was imposed in at least four districts of Punjab, said Amrinder Singh, the state's chief minister.

SS