The Centre on Sunday rushed about 1,200 paramilitary personnel to Punjab and Haryana, hit by violence following filing of a fresh murder case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
"We have sent central paramilitary forces, 12 companies to Punjab and Haryana to take care of the situation. Strict instructions have been given to the state governments to take severe action against those breaking law and order," Union Home Secretary G K Pillai told reporters in Delhi.
He said the Home Minister P Chidambaram is aware of the development.
"We have also kept Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informed," Pillai said.
Resenting the filing of a murder case against the Dera Sacha Sauda head by the CBI, sect supporters last evening went on a rampage setting ablaze four trains and around 37 vehicles, including 27 buses, and vandalising property in several places in the two states.
Meanwhile, Haryana Police has rounded up large number of Dera supporters for indulging in and instigating violence. In a statement the Dera Sacha Sauda chief Baba Ram Rahim has said that his supporters were not involved in arson or violence.
Resenting the filing of a murder case against the Dera Sacha Sauda head by the CBI, the sect supporters went on a rampage setting ablaze four trains and around 37 vehicles, including 27 buses, and vandalized property in several places in Punjab and Haryana on Saturday evening.
Tension ran high in many towns in the two neighbouring states as police were put on high alert and Haryana requisitioned 1,500 para-military personnel to deal with the situation.
Patrolling was intensified in troubled-torn towns as Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Punjab's Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal appealed for calm.
The protesters set afire a compartment each of the Ferozepur-Ludhiana Sutlej Express, the Narwana-Kurukshetra train and two local trains after asking the passengers to disembark, a railway spokesman said.
They also vandalised railway property at Tapa, Moga and Kalaiyat in Punjab, he said.
The mobs torched and damaged 37 vehilces, 27 of them buses, including an air-conditoned one, in Bathinda, Mansa, Talwandi Sabo, Bhagapurana and other places in Punjab and at Kaithal, Sirsa and Fatehabad in Haryana.
In Moga, the protesters tried to set ablaze the District Administration Complex, housing among others the offices of the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP, prompting police to fire in the air to scatter them.
Over 200 villagers, with some of them firing shots, attacked a police station at Bhagapurana. They fled after the reinforcement reached there from Moga.
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