Death toll rises to 12, over 150 injured as Dera followers go on the rampage

At least 12 people were killed today and scores injured in violence that erupted here after angry supporters of self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh went on the ramapage.
The supporters of 50-year-old Ram Rahim, who heads the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda, took to the streets shortly after a special CBI court in Panchkula held the flamboyant self-styled godman guilty in a 2002 rape case.
"Twelve people are dead and at least 150 are injured," said Vivek Bhadu, Chief Medical Officer at the civil hospital in Panchkula.
More casualties are feared as a stream of ambulances were still bringing in seriously injured people soaked in blood to the civil hospital.

It was not immediately known if the deaths and injuries were due to police action or violence by Dera followers, which included a large number of women.
Police fired in the air, lobbed tear gas and let loose water cannons on the protesters to quell the violence, which spread beyond Panchkula to many places in Haryana and Punjab.
Curfew was also clamped in Panchkula, a suburb of Chandigarh.
Six columns of Army, comprising a total of 500 to 600 soldiers were deployed in Panchkula.