At least 13 people have died in riots and arson attacks that broke out across two states in northern India after a flamboyant Indian spiritual leader was convicted of raping two of his female followers. The Indian army was deployed in the city of Panchkula on Friday shortly after the court found Ram Rahim Singh guilty of sexual assault. The self-styled “godman” and leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect has been taken into custody and will reportedly be flown by helicopter to a jail in Haryana state before sentencing on Monday.

A police official told Reuters that 13 deaths had been confirmed in Panchkula. Electricity supplies, mobile internet and cable television had been cut in parts of Haryana and Punjab states before the verdict as up to 200,000 members of the sect massed in Panchkula in a show of defiance and support. Live television footage showed smoke billowing above a railway station and petrol pump in Punjab that was allegedly set alight by supporters of the guru.(theguardian)…[+]