BARWALA: Indian police were Thursday scouring the ashram of a controversial guru for explosives after his arrest ended a bloody stand-off with thousands of followers and a long siege during which six people died. Officers finally gained access to the vast complex where Rampal Maharaj had been holed up for over a week, guarded by supporters armed with stones, petrol bombs and other weapons, until his arrest on Wednesday on murder and other charges.

Thousands of the guru's supporters have poured out of the heavily guarded ashram since police forced their way in on Tuesday, but around 3,000 more remain inside the 4.8-hectare (12-acre) compound in northern Haryana state.

Families were separated by a large concrete barrier, with men on one side of a vast hall where followers slept on mattresses on the floor, and women and children on the other. CCTV cameras had been set up around the building to monitor their movements.

“They said that those who left earlier were beaten by police and arrested... We decided not to leave after that,” said Ajay Kumar Mandal, who had been at the ashram with his wife and children since Nov. 4.

“I’ll leave now. As for the conditions, they were very good,” he told an AFP reporter.