2 dead, 7 injured in violence in Dera base Sirsa

Two followers of Dera Sacha Sauda were killed and seven others injured in violence in Sirsa, the headquarters of the dera, after its chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was convicted in a rape case today.
"Several injured Dera followers were brought to the district civil hospital. Two of them were declared dead, while seven others are undergoing treatment," Sirsa District Civil Surgeon Viresh Bhushan told PTI.
He said that three of the injured were critical.
He said that it was not immediately clear whether they died in clashes with police or due to some other reasons.
The two bodies were yet to be identified, he added.

Meanwhile, the streets of Sirsa remained deserted as the Army flag-marched at various places. No one is being allowed to venture out in the city.

The Army was earlier summoned to control the large number of angry Dera followers at the sect's headquarters.
A special CBI court in Panchkula convicted the self- styled godman in a 2002 rape case, triggering widespread violence and arson by his supporters in Punjab and Haryana.
In Panchkula, the epicentre of the violence, at least 28 people were killed and over 200 injured in violence.
CBI judge Jagdeep Singh held the 50-year-old Dera Sacha Sauda chief guilty of rape in the case that was registered on the basis of an anonymous written complaint in 2002 that he had sexually exploited two female followers.