Bullet-proof vehicle found from Rampal's Ashram, search on

CHANDIGARH: Police today recovered a bullet-proof vehicle among other items from the Ashram of "godman" Rampal in Barwala town of Hisar district.

The recovery was made a day after a huge cache of arms and ammunition, petrol bombs, acid syringes were found from the highly-fortified complex.

The details emerged as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Haryana Police continued with its search of the Ashram.

Among the recoveries made today included a bus, a bullet-proof Multi Utility Vehicle (MUV), a Maruti Gypsy, an oil tanker, two tractors along with trollies, police said.

During the search, three followers who were still inside the Ashram, were also found. They were identified as Laxman Dass and Mahesh Kumar of MP, Ajay Dass of Bihar.

The 63-year-old junior-engineer-turned-preacher was arrested from his Ashram on Wednesday, after Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued a Non Bailable Warrants against him in a contempt case.

The team had earlier also recovered three .32 bore revolvers, 19 air guns, two DBBL 12 bore, two .315 bore rifles, 28 cartridges of .32 bore, 50 cartridges of 12 bore and 25 cartridges of .315 bore.

The sprawling complex was found to be under constant surveillance with CCTV cameras installed at several key-points to keep a tab on the movements of devotees, who largely came from low-income strata.

Police said that the search operation will continue for a few days more as the Ashram area was vast.