Indian guru Gurpreet Ram Rahim Singh has been sentenced 20 years in jail for the rape of two of his followers after a letter was anonymously leaked.
There were initial reports of a 10-year sentence but his lawyers confirmed the sentencing was of consecutive, not concurrent, terms.
The guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, was on Friday found guilty of raping two women in a 2002 case, sparking protests by his supporters in various parts of north India. At least 38 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.
“We have issued shoot-on-sight orders if anyone tries to start a protest,” said Ram Niwas, a senior bureaucrat in Haryana in-charge of law and order.
Authorities imposed curfews in several areas of Haryana and Punjab states, while the capital, Delhi is on alert. The sentence was handed to the guru in jail by the judge, who was flown to the prison in Rohtak town. The prison had been transformed into a fortress, with journalists banned from approaching closer than a mile (1.6 km) and roads lined with barbed-wire barricades.
The 50-year-old Singh is known as the “guru in bling” for his bejewelled costumes. He says he has more than a million followers. In 2015, Singh started a film franchise portraying him as MSG or “Messenger of God”, performing miracles, preaching to thousands and beating up gangsters while singing and dancing.
