Spiritual leader's ashram attacked in Gujarat

Ahmedabad, India - A group of unidentified people attacked an ashram of spiritual leader Swami Satchitanand and injured four temple officials in Gujarat's Anand district, police said Monday.

According to police, the attack took place at Dantali in the district at 2.30 a.m. The attackers fled the site after 20 minutes when the swami fired two rounds in the air from his private revolver.

"I don't know why this attack took place, but there could be a chance that some people associated with the Swadhyay Parivar were behind it," the swami alleged while speaking to a TV channel.

Several people from the ashram, situated about 90 km from here, have reportedly held the Swadhyay Parivar members responsible for the attack.

The swami had made adverse remarks on the Swadhyay Parivar at a function 10 days ago in Ahmedabad after five people from the religious sect were arrested in connection with the murder of US-based NRI Pankaj Trivedi on June 15.

During the function, Swami also expressed fear that he could be targeted for openly commenting against the sect.