India
Updated : Nov 21, 2014, 03:19 PM IST
The 'godman' Rampal was finally arrested by the Haryana Police late on Wednesday night after the police along with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) mounted a raid on the sprawling Satlok Ashram, the headquarters of 'Sant' Rampal. Thousands of his followers were rescued from the compound, many of them women, children and elderly, allegedly kept 'hostage' by Rampal and his goons.
The dramatic stand-off over the past few weeks, which culminated in the operation on Tuesday and Wednesday, have shed more light on the secretive world of the 'godman', who now has murder and sedition charges filed against him.
According to reports, Rampal preached to his followers that the 'holy trinity' of the Hindu pantheon- Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh- must be denounced. Instead, Sant Kabir should be respected as the supreme God in Hinduism, Rampal insisted. He told his followers that all the holy books in Hinduism point to Sant Kabir as the supreme being. He is said to have proclaimed himself as a direct descendant of Sant Kabir, He has also reportedly claimed that his birth was predicted by Nostradamus.
Rampal even seemed to elicit unending devotion from his followers. According to reports, Rampal used to be bathed in milk everyday. The same milk was then used to prepare kheer, which was in turn distributed among his followers and the villagers around the ashram.
Women are believed to be mistreated in the ashram. Reports say that the authorities are said to have forced women to partially take off their clothes – a salwar for some, dupatta for the others – so that they don't leave the ashram premises.
Ashram authorities also seemed to have forced families apart, say reports . One of the rescued women has claimed that her husband and her child were not yet rescued from the Ashram.