PANCHKULA, India (AP) – A north Indian court on Friday convicted the flamboyant leader of a quasi-religious sect of raping two of his followers, prompting thousands of supporters camped out near the courthouse to shout angry protests.
The court in the town of Panchkula announced the verdict in the 15-year-old case against the guru, who calls himself Saint Dr. Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Ji Insan, prosecutor H.P.S. Verma said.
Fearing an outbreak of violence, more than 15,000 Indian police and paramlitary soldiers were patrolling streets
Verma said the sentence would be announced on Aug. 28.
The 15-year-old case was being tried in a special court run by India’s top agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The bearded guru, who had denied the charges, had arrived for the hearing with a 100-vehicle convoy that left his ashram early Friday.
His Dera Sacha Sauda sect claims to have some 50 million followers and campaigns for vegetarianism and against drug addiction. It has also taken up social causes such as organizing the weddings of poor couples.
Such sects have huge followings in India. It’s not unusual for leaders to have small, heavily armed private militias protecting them.
Some 100,000 of his followers had camped overnight in parks, plazas and on the streets of the town, a quiet residential suburb of Chandigarh, which is the common capital of Haryana and Punjab states.
Police erected heavy metal barricades topped with barbed wire along main roads in the town, and blocked the road leading to the courthouse. Officers on horseback monitored the crowds nearby.
“We are prepared to deal with any situation, but are confident that adequate measures have been put in place,” said B. S. Sandhu, a top Haryana police official.
Army soldiers will later march through the streets to garner a sense of security, Sandhu told reporters, as helicopters whirred overhead before the verdict was read.
Authorities ordered Internet and cellphone services shut down across both Haryana and Punjab as a security precaution.
Train services were canceled through the area, leading to railway delays across north India. Schools and colleges were closed.