Swami Sachidanand's ashram attacked, four injured

Anand, July 17 (UNI) Four persons were injured when a group of assailants barged into the ashram of religious guru Swami Sachidanand in Dantali village near here, in the wee hours today.

The injured included three of Swamiji's followers.

Red alert has been sounded across Gujarat to nab the assailants, district Superintendent of Police B S Jabelia said. ''All hospitals have been alerted as one of the assailants is injured,'' he said.

Security measures have been tightened in the area and blockades have been imposed on roads leading out of Dantali.

Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah, who rushed to the ashram in the morning, said a high-level inquiry will be conducted into the incident.

Giving details about the incident, Swami Sachidanand said it was around 0230 to 0245 hours when the attackers barged into the ashram.

He was in his room on the first floor at the time, and had woken up due to the commotion. He quickly loaded his revolver and came out to the lobby. ''Hearing the noise, I knew that my ashram was under attack. As I came out into the lobby, the group came towards me. I fired at them from my licenced revolver,'' he said.

Following this, the assailants fled, but one of them incurred a bullet injury. The Swami said the motive was clearly not loot, but to attack him.

He said he had been getting threatening letters for sometime but had not lodged any complaint with the police, as those had become ''pretty routine.'' The seer, however, refused to name any organisation or person behind the attack. ''I will talk about it only after the police makes any arrests.'' Ashram sources alleged that the attackers could be Swadhyaya Parivar members, as they had been issuing threats to the Swami.

The Swami had publicly criticised the Parivar in his meetings after the murder of NRI Pankaj Trivedi in Ahmedabad on June 15. He had also voiced fears that he would also be attacked.

Gujarat Ministers Bhupendrasinh Chudasama and C D Patel, too, reached the ashram in the morning.

Top police officials are also present there. The dog squad was trying to trace the trail of the injured assailant through the drops of his blood that fell, as he ran out. All hospitals are under watch, police added.

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