Chandigarh, Nov 18: With the situation at the ashram of 'godman' Rampal in Hisar district's Barwala town turning volatile, state DGP S N Vashisht today said the police was committed to bring out the godman who was "still inside" even as he described the operation as "very tough".
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was also closely monitoring the situation and was being given constant updates.
"The Chief Minister is keeping a close eye on the situation. He is regularly updating himself as the situation unfolds," Khattar's OSD Jawahar Yadav said.
Asked to comment on some mediapersons getting injured and cameras of some electronic media journalists getting broken in the melee at Satlok Ashram in Barwala town, Yadav said, "It is unfortunate. Media is fourth pillar of our democracy, but I don't know the exact details about the circumstances which led to the attack and injuries to many media personnel".
Speaking to reporters here, DGP Vashisht said as per their information Rampal was "still inside the Ashram".
"Our information is that he is still inside," he said. Asked if there had been delay on the part of the police to secure Rampal, the DGP said they were in midst of a "very tough operation".
"One has to understand that we are facing a very hostile group inside the ashram. We know that there are women and children in numbers inside the ashram, and even babies, some just one-year-old. We have over-riding priority to save the innocent lives," he said.
He said the authorities had during the past few days cut-off supplies to the ashram, diverted traffic and used all sorts of "persuasive measures" to execute the High Court orders to secure Rampal.
"We are committed to carry out the directions of the High Court and at the same time use minimum force and avoid casualties altogether or keep it minimum," the DGP said.
On allegations that many media persons were left injured in "police attack", he said it was unfortunate that journalists had been injured while discharging their duties.
Clarifying that no police personnel would deliberately attack the media, he said as per reports, some journalists had been injured due to stone-pelting from inside the Ashram while some allegedly in police action.
"The moment this operation is over, we will get it looked into. ...There was no intentional or operational compulsion to target the media," he said.
The DGP said he had received phone calls from journalists earlier in the day asking that they be allowed to cover the operation launched by the security personnel at Satlok Ashram, following which permission was granted.
"We have nothing to hide, we want media by our side so that the world knows what the truth is. We had granted permission to 86 media personnel to cover the operation," the DGP said.
Meanwhile, on being asked about police's failure to arrest Rampal so far, Chief Minister's Officer on Special Duty Yadav said the Khattar government should have pre-empted the situation and not allowed it to worsen to this extent.
"Now, the government should find a way out so that casualties don't take place," he said.
Over 100 injured
Meanwhile, violent clashes broke out at the ashram of Rampal with police lobbing teargas shells and resorting to lathicharge to disperse his supporters who allegedly fired back, leaving over 100 persons, including security and media personnel, injured.
Tension mounted as supporters of Rampal refused to heed to repeated announcements by the police over loud speakers to allow them to enter the premises to arrest him.
Both the leaders have been attacking the party leadership over its pro-CAA stand.
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