India’s ‘guru of bling’ is convicted of raping two followers. After the verdict, deadly violence breaks out. - The Washington Post

In times of trial a child’s place is near the father, they believe. So they went, thousands of obedient sons and daughters marching the roads of India together.

All week, followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda religious sect converged on the city of Panchkula, where a court found Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh guilty Friday of raping two followers, according to news reports. Police put the town on a security lockdown, the Associated Press reported.

In the wake of the ruling, authorities in both Haryana and the neighboring state of Punjab, also on high alert, battled against outbreaks of unrest against police and the news media by followers of the headline-grabbing Singh, known as the “guru of bling.”

At least 28 people were killed and 250 injured in the widening clashes, authorities said, according to the AP.

India’s ‘guru of bling’ is convicted of raping two followers. After the verdict, deadly violence breaks out. - The Washington Post

India: 400 men cut off their testicles to 'get closer to God' following advice from 'guru'

Multi-millionaire religious "guru" Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh persuaded around 400 of his estimated 50 million followers worldwide to cut off their own testicles to "bring them closer to God".

The details of the bizarre incident have only just come to light despite reportedly taking place in 2000 at a hospital run by Ram Rahim in India.

India's Central Bureau of Investigation has reportedly accused Ram Rahim of grievous bodily harm and he is under investigation. He has previously been questioned over the murder of an investigative journalist in 2002 and has also been accused of sexual assault by female followers but has never been charged.
 
Navkiran Singh, who is the lawyer for Hans Raj Chauhan, the only castration victim so far to come forward, said his client and other victims believed they would become social outcasts if they refused to perform the "operation" demanded of them by Ram Rahim.

"They were told that only those who get castrated will be able to meet God," said Navkiran, in a report in the Daily Mail.

India: 400 men cut off their testicles to 'get closer to God' following advice from 'guru'