Moga, September 21
The district and sessions court of Moga has declared 34 Dera Sacha Sauda followers guilty of causing damage to public property and rioting and under various other sections of the Indian Penal Code here this evening.

The quantum of punishment would be pronounced on Saturday. One of the followers Agya Pal Singh has been acquitted by the court in the absence of any concrete evidence of his involvement in rioting and torching of buses.

Meanwhile, Moga city has been put on high alert after the court ordered that 34 dera followers be taken into custody. Before their arrest, they were out on bail.

It was on February 27, 2010 that hundreds of followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect went on a rampage, torching buses and burning trains across the state. Moga was one of the most affected towns as the CBI registered an FIR against the dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and four others for murder, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.

On the day of the incident, the police rounded up more than 300 dera followers including women. A case was registered under Sections 307, 427, 436, 124-A, 186 and 149 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against 35 of them in the Moga (city) police station.

At Baghapurana town in the district, the police had registered a separate criminal case under Sections 307, 427, 436, 353, 124-A, 186, 148 and 149 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against a former Sarpanch Harnek Singh of Marhi Mustafa village and 400 other persons.

He was allegedly accused of inciting the dera followers to riot. They had damaged more than 15 buses, four bogeys of trains and some public property in the district.

Following the court order, SSP Surjit Singh Grewal said security had been tightened at vulnerable places as a precautionary measure.