Rampal (Satlok Ashram, India)

Rampal claimed to be the purna sant ('complete saint'), a status he derived from a personal reinterpretation of Kabir's poetry that places himself above all other Sant Mat lineage holders. From the early 2000s the Barwala (Haryana) ashram grew into a fortified 12-acre compound housing several thousand resident followers under highly controlled conditions: surrendered passports and bank accounts, restricted outside contact, mandatory daily satsang, and severance from non-Satlok family members. The crisis began with a 2006 sectarian street confrontation in Rohtak that killed an opposing Arya Samaj activist; Rampal evaded the resulting murder case for eight years through repeated court non-appearance. In November 2014 the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered his arrest; Rampal's followers refused the warrant and barricaded the ashram. The eventual eight-day Haryana Police siege ended on 19 November 2014; six bodies, mostly women, were recovered from inside (causes including suffocation in the crush and one infant death). Two separate murder trials (the 2006 case and the 2014 siege deaths) produced concurrent life sentences in October 2017 and October 2018. The organisation rebranded as 'Kabir Bhakti Pravakta Sant Rampalji Maharaj' and continues to operate roughly 20 satellite ashrams across north India and a substantial diaspora YouTube presence; Rampal's discourses are recorded in prison and uploaded posthumously.