MUMBAI: Hundreds of angry Sikhs went on rampage yesterday in Mulund, Airoli and other suburbs of Mumbai, stoning local trains and buses, after the killing of a Sikh youth by security guards of rival Sikh preacher Baba Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh in a shopping mall in Mulund on Friday evening. The killing led to violent clashes between the two groups.
Mobs of Sikhs, men and women, brandishing swords and sticks squatted on the railway tracks and brought to halt the suburban trains carrying thousands of commuters to different suburbs for work and business.
They also blocked the Western Express Highway on the Mumbai-Nashik Road and Mumbai Pune Expressway, causing huge traffic jam. The Rapid Action Force (RAF), which has a professional experience to handle armed mobs, was called in to control the situation. When the Sikh mobs started pelting stones at passing buses and trains, the RAF, as a normal practice first cane-charged, then lobbed tear gas shells and finally fired in the air to disperse the crowd. According to police sources, the bodyguards of the chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda, opened fire on a group of Sikhs protesting his visit to the city on Friday killing one person and seriously injuring three others.
On Friday evening, Sikhs in the Mulund area had thronged a plush gym near the Nirmal Lifestyle shopping mall on Lal Bahadur Shastri Marg where the controversial Baba, who has a running feud with traditionalist Sikhs, was camping.
When his bodyguards could not beat back the protesters, they fired five rounds, killing Mulund resident Barkarar Singh.
Angry Sikhs also blocked traffic on National Highway No.10 near Sirsa town in Haryana to protest the killing. The protest by the Sikhs was organized in Sirsa town, about 300 km from Chandigarh, which is close to the headquarters of the Dera sect. Reinforcements were rushed to the spot to prevent any clash between the Sikh community and the sect’s followers.
Sikh leaders were holding meetings yesterday in Jalandhar and Amritsar cities in Punjab to decide what action should be taken against the killing. The sect chief enjoys Z-plus security cover, mostly from the Haryana police. He has been in the middle of controversies since May last year when he dressed himself like 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh during his sect’s religious ceremony. This led to protests from Sikhs and large-scale violence by the community against the sect, particularly in Punjab and Haryana.
— With input from agencies
