Baba Gurmeet wept like a child and sought the court to forgive him. The CBI suggested 10 years imprisonment for Gurmeet.
Haryana and Punjab ordered schools and colleges shut, suspended mobile services, beefed up security and threw a five-tier cordon around a Rohtak jail.
Today the CBI judge will hand out punishment to self-styled godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for raping two disciples.
The special CBI court will at 2.30pm begin hearing arguments on quantum of punishment, which could range from seven years to life imprisonment, in the district jail at Sunaria where the flamboyant Dera chief is lodged.
Rohtak deputy commissioner Atul Kumar said miscreants who try to spread violence will be shot dead. “We requested for 18 columns of army. It is on stand-by and will arrive within one hour of our request,” he said.
