5 sadhus held guilty of 1998 Dalit massacre

The Faizabad district court on Saturday held guilty five sadhus from Ayodhya for killing four members of a Dalit family and leaving half-a-dozen persons seriously injured. The guilty are Mahant Jamwant Jai Narayan Das, Mahant Mohan Das, Mahant Kaushal Kishore, Mahant Krishna Das and Mahant Jagdeesh Das. Since Mahant Mohan Das died during the trial, Additional District Judge R K Gautam issued arrest warrants against the rest and asked the police to arrest them by March 18.

The case pertained to an incident on November12,1998 when Ramjag of Gutarghaat in Ayodhya was planting a hedge around his family plot. The sandhus objected to this. When Ramjag’s family resisted, they were fired upon and also attacked with swords and axes, leading to the death of Ramjag(35), Sandu(40), Laal Babu(25) and Meena(30).