Police search sect campus in Haryana for weapons

With the Punjab and Haryana High Court taking a strong stand on campuses of religious sects being used to amass weapons, the Haryana Police Saturday conducted search of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect premises near the state's Sirsa town

The police teams, assisted by a dog squad and equipment to detect weapons and explosives, made an elaborate search of the sect premises in Sirsa, 275 km from here, police sources said.

However, the police officials refused to divulge if any weapons or explosives were found at the sect campus.

The high court had recently asked the Haryana and Punjab governments and police to submit a report on the misuse of sect campuses to store weapons and explosives.

The court directions followed the November incident at the Satlok Ashram campus of sect leader Rampal at Barwala near Hisar in Haryana where hundreds of his followers fought pitched battles with security forces who wanted to arrest him in connection with a criminal case.

The violence had left six people dead and nearly 200 injured.

Police later recovered weapons, ammunition and explosives from his campus.