Sant Rampal arrest: Piles of food & medicine, X-ray facilities, and a throne-cum-lift
Rampal’s three-floor palatial home has 18 rooms, each with at least one AC.
Blankets and mattresses piled up inside the ashram. (Source: Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
When security personnel finally entered Sant Rampal’s Satlok Ashram Thursday, the sight that greeted them spoke of its enormous resources .
The ashram, which The Indian Express too gained access to, was stockpiled to feed and heal its inmates for several months. There was also evidence of a planned resistance, with hundreds of bottles intended to be used as crude bombs, and even Holi toys filled with petrol.
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Separate areas were demarcated as kitchen, polytechnic, and “satsang area” spanning 12 acres, each stocked with essential items, contradicting government claims before the operation that with the administration having cut off the supply chain, the ashram was running out of food and medicine. “We had no idea how big and efficiently managed the establishment was. We now know they had enough rations to survive for three months,” said an official with the district administration.
In the kitchen was sack upon sack of rice, wheat and pulses. “Outside alone, we inventoried 58 sacks of rice, wheat and pulses. There are two storerooms we have not entered yet, and over 30 vats for food, some with fresh khichdi and kheer,” said a police officer.
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In the satsang area, every 2 feet had crumpled mattresses, blankets and sheets, used by the 20,000 people inside during the siege. In another area were several thousand additional blankets and pillows. For power, there were at least six large generators.
A policeman tries out the throne that also served a lift for Sant Rampal. (Source: Express photo by Praveen Khanna)
Crude weaponry included sacks and wheelbarrows of stones at every corner, with strategic points apparently chosen to hurl them from. Near the sides of the ashram, there were buckets of a pungent, acid-like substance. Near Rampal’s residence were water guns used for Holi, filled with petrol. During the violence of Tuesday, supporters had used petrol to ward off troops. “We are still searching for more weapons,” an officer said.
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The polytechnic clinic was stocked with bandages, painkillers, antiseptic. Six waste buckets were filled with blood-soaked rags. There was a separate “injection room”and an “X-ray” room, the latter with a new Allengers X-ray machine. The room doubled up as an operation theatre; surgical equipment was next to the bed. Two other rooms had 15 beds with almirahs full of medicine including Asthalin, Novalin, Crocin and Combiflam.
Rampal was sent to judicial custody till November 28, the next date of hearing. (Source: PTI photo)
Rampal’s three-floor palatial home has 18 rooms, each with at least one AC. The swimming pool has a special changing area. In the ashram, his pravachan area has a throne that also served as a lift for Rampal, who spoke from the second floor of a white marble structure fortified by glass.
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