Panchkula: Soon after his arrest, self-styled ‘godman' Rampal was taken for a mandatory medical examination here during which his health parameters were found “stable”.
63-year-old Rampal, who had refused to appear in court in a contempt case claiming he was unwell, was arrested last night from his Satlok Ashram after a two-week long stand off in Hisar's Barwala town.
He was later brought to Panchkula Government hospital in Haryana in an ambulance from Barwala well past mid-night after traveling nearly 220 kms.
Immediately on arrival, doctors at the government health institution in Sector 6 here conducted tests on him. Dr Rajesh of the Civil Hospital told reporters that the godman's overall health parameters appeared “stable”.
After he was brought to the Panchkula hospital, Rampal, who had a shawl wrapped around his body and his head covered, walked out of the ambulance on his own to enter the health institution for the mandatory medical examination.
Earlier, the Haryana Police in assistance with the para military forces arrested Rampal, a former engineer who claims to be a devotee of mystic poet Kabir, last night, ending an over two-week tense standoff between his supporters and the police after close to 15,000 of his followers were evacuated from the sprawling 12 acre ashram premises.
Six persons, including an infant, lost their lives in the stand-off, while key aides of the godman and over 450 supporters, most of them from his private army of commandos, were nabbed by the police.
Commenting on Rampal's arrest, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said that priority of the government and the security personnel involved in the operation was to ensure that innocent lives are brought out safely without any harm.
“All throughout, we had to keep in mind that no innocent lives are lost,” Khattar said.
He thanked the media, social groups for their cooperation and expressed gratitude to people of Haryana, especially local residents, for extending co-operation and showing patience despite the inconvenience.
Haryana Police DGP, S N Vashisht described the operation as “very tough” since the forces had to deal with a hostile army of the godman's commandos while at the same time keeping in mind safety and security of thousands of innocent men, women and children being used as “human shields”.
The entire operation was carefully calibrated keeping in mind the safety of a large number of people stranded inside.
