Barwala: Haryana Police finally arrested elusive self-styled godman Rampal Wednesday evening from his fortified Satlok Ashram near Barwala in Haryana. At least six people lost their lives in the stand-off as Rampal eluded the police, while many of his key aides and around 450 supporters were also arrested. Self-styled 'godman' Rampal was on Wednesday night arrested from his ashram, ending an over two-week tense standoff between his supporters and the police after close to 15,000 of his followers were evacuated from the sprawling premises. The controversial 63-year-old baba will be produced in a Hisar court on Thursday. DGP S N Vashisht said that Rampal had been taken into custody following an operation which was "very tough" since the forces had to deal with a hostile army of his commandos. Panipat SP, B Sateesh Balan, who was among the five SPs of neighbouring Hisar who took part in the operation to hunt down the engineer-turned 'godman', said he did not surrender but was arrested from Satlok ashram where four women died mysteriously and two others in hospital in the midst of the showdown.

"Rampal has been arrested from his Satlok Ashram. He is being taken for a medical examination after which tomorrow morning he will be produced before a court at Hisar," Balan said. The entire operation was carefully calibrated keeping in mind the safety of a large number of people stranded inside. "We are happy that the entire operation went off peacefully," a senior officer said. The arrest came in the night after over 15,000 followers including women, children and the aged, who were being forcibly kept inside the 12-acre ashram as a human shield to Rampal, were evacuated. The security personnel had halted the operation last evening to enable the followers to come out. Some followers of Rampal were still stated to be inside the ashram which had been well fortified by the self-proclaimed 'godman'. Locals of Barwala and surrounding areas took to the streets following his arrest.