Sant Rampal's followers choke to death while cleaning sewer at his ashram

Two followers of jailed godman Rampal died today and another was injured while cleaning a septic tank at his ashram in outer Delhi's Mundka area, the police said.

The police has registered a case of death caused due to negligence.

The sequence of the events will be ascertained and the alleged negligence on the part of the ashram will be probed, said a senior police official.

The incident happened at the godman's ashram this evening. Amarjeet (30) and Makhan Lal (27) had descended into the 90-foot deep tank to clean it, but started choking due to the toxic fumes. Another man, Mukesh (25), went inside the tank to rescue them but he too lost consciousness, the police said.

All three were taken to a hospital. While Mukesh is undergoing treatment and is still unconscious, the other two were declared brought dead, the police said.

Some people who were trying to pull out the three were also injured in the rescue attempt, it said.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem.