(NDTV)
Self-styled spiritual guru Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for the rape of two women followers in 2002. The 50-year-old chief of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect reportedly broke down as he was sentenced at a jail in Haryana’s Rohtak by Judge Jagdeep Singh, who flew down by helicopter to conduct a prison-side court hearing. Thousands of soldiers are guarding the prison and the army is on stand by. No civilians are being allowed within 10 km of the prison. Over a lakh of Ram Rahim’s followers had gathered in Panchkula, where he was convicted on Friday, and they erupted in violence that left 38 people dead and over 200 injured.