Chandigarh, November 28
Less than 10 days after controversial sect head Rampal's Satlok Ashram was raided by the police in an attempt to flush him out of his liar, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today called for the details of his properties. A report has also been sought on the involvement, if any, of men from the "uniformed force" in the resistance put up by his supporters during the police operation on his ashram.

A report submitted by Haryana Director General of Police Shriniwas Vashisht in the court said eight .12 bore riffles, five .315 bore riffles, four .32 bore revolvers, a pistol and 19 air guns were recovered from the ashram. Slingshots and a country-made steel knife were also seized, the report said.

The report said 67 spray guns, 130 cartridges, 61 petrol bombs and nine chemical pouches were recovered, along with 5,632 batons, 285 helmets, 35 plastic shields and two bulletproof jackets. The total recovery gave the defense counsel SK Garg Narwana an opportunity to declare that claims of recovering "large quantities of arms" had fizzled out. Narwana played down the recovery by claiming that the arms were licensed and their quantity was far less than the number of weapons kept in some of the households in Punjab. The report with annexure, running into 14 pages said that Haryana spent Rs 15,43,77,188 on the operation. The Centre claimed that it had spent Rs 3,55,49,700 and the UT said it spent more than Rs 3 crore. As many as 110 police personnel and 70 of Rampal's followers sustained injuries. In all, 909 persons were arrested.

Crop on 78 acres adjacent to Satlok Ashram was destroyed. As the contempt of court case against Rampal came up for resumed hearing this morning, Justice M Jeyapaul and Justice Darshan Singh directed the Haryana Additional Chief Secretary (Home) to submit a list of properties owned by Rampal and the trust floated by him, his followers and disciples. Rampal stood in silence with his eyes closed during the hearing.

At the very onset, the amicus curiae suggested the shifting of murder trial against Rampal from Rohtak to Chandigarh. He said nine police personnel sustained firearm injuries and it was imperative to take a look at the same to see whether it was a case of organised willful contempt of court. Placing before the Bench a report carried earlier in The Tribune, he said Military Intelligence Directorate had issued an “advisory” asking Army men to refrain from getting involved with Dera Sacha Sauda and it was required to be seen if ex-servicemen were involved in the present case as well.

Describing Rampal as a “law abiding citizen”, his counsel SK Garg Narwana, on the other hand, said the injuries were not an aftermath of resistance put up by the supporters. Rather brutal force was used by the police, evident from the attack on the lensmen covering the operation. “The police was indulging in brutal beating and never intended it to be caught in the camera,” he contended.

He also pleaded before the court to confine the proceedings to the issue of contempt. Narwana even objected to the filing of "claims" by Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for recovering amount spent on the operation.

Haryana Advocate General Baldev Raj Mahajan, assisted by Additional Advocate General Lokesh Sinhal, said all seven cases pending against Rampal at Hisar were required to be transferred to the same place.

Rampal’s supporters, it seems, were aiming at keeping the police at bay with slingshots, among other things. The “massive” collection of |arms and ammunition recovered from his ashram also included more than 1,93O glass beads for the slingshots.