Who is Sant Rampal? Things to know about engineer who became self-styled godman

A day after Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was sentenced to 20 years in prison for two rapes, it is the turn of another spiritual leader to see his fate decided by the Indian judiciary.

Sant Rampal, a self-styled godman, was arrested in November 2014 from Hisar in Haryana on charges of rioting, sedition and murder, among others.

The arrest had come after a tense standoff between thousands of his followers and the police. According to reports, the followers had acted as a human shield for Rampal.

Judicial Magistrate Mukesh Kumar will pronounce the verdict in the criminal cases against this godman on Tuesday, August 29.

So who is Sant Rampal? Here are a few things to know before his verdict.

Son of a farmer

Sant Rampal was born Rampal Singh Jatin on September 8, 1951, in Haryana's Sonepat town. He was the son of farmer Nand Ram.

Engineer by education

Rampal became an engineer and worked with the Haryana Irrigation Department until 2000. According to reports, he was forced to resign. He started delivering religious sermons soon after.

"Both of us did our matriculation from Gohana High School in Sonepat in 1971-72. Even then, he was religious. He used to read lots of books on Lord Hanuman and chant Hanuman Chalisa. But we later found out that he had started following saint Kabir's philosophies. I don't know much about his tenure as a junior engineer; we did not work together for long," Jai Singh, who worked with Rampal in the state irrigation department, told the Indian Express.

Follower of Kabir

Rampal was 16 years old when he came under the influence of Saint Ramdevanand, who was a follower of the 15th-century mystic poet and saint Kabir.

In 1994, Ramdevanand ordered Rampal to "initiate people into taking naam." In 1995, after quitting his job he took Ramdevanand's words seriously.

Series of sermons

Rampal would drive around villages in Sonepat and Rohtak on a motorcycle with a microphone to deliver sermons. He used to get his photographs clicked and videos recorded for satsangs.

"When Rampal had just begun delivering religious discourses, he was a frequent visitor to newspaper offices in Rohtak and Sonepat. With some help from his journalist friends, he used to get his religious discourses published. He used to design his own press notes and deliver them to newspaper offices," Balwan Singh Malik, a veteran journalist in Sonipat, told the leading daily.

"Till 2006, when he was first arrested from Karontha ashram, he was somewhat accessible. However, after coming out of jail in 2008, he went completely out of touch," said Malik.

Establishing an ashram

As his "business" flourished, he established his own ashram in Rohtak in 2000. Rampal believed he was an incarnation of Kabir and Guru Nanak.

He started preaching people, to not worship Hindu gods and even questioned "the origin and ancestry of gods and the popular interpretations of Hindu scriptures."

Used supporters to spread influence

His followers were mostly from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. Very few were from Haryana because he was at odds with people in many villages in the state. He used his followers from different states for influence.

"There are very few men in this country who speak on Kabirpanthi and our Baba was a reincarnation of Kabir. We asked our supporters to spread the word in their own areas, and bring people needy of solace to the ashram," Rahul Das, spokesperson for the Satlok Ashram in Karontha, told IE.

Arrested

In 2006, Rampal criticised the Arya Samaj and that resulted in a violent clash between the two sects. One person was killed in the clash. Rampal was charged with murder and was subsequently arrested.

He was released on bail in 2008, and missed his court hearing in 2014, following which the court ordered his arrest. His followers tried to stop the police from arresting him.

"Rampal's followers are mainly from backward castes. Of the 459 people we arrested on charges of rioting during the operation to nab Rampal, 118 were from Rajasthan, 116 from Haryana, 83 from Uttar Pradesh, 72 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 from Bihar and three from Nepal," Haryana's Director General of Police S N Vashisht said.