Hundreds mourn slain Indian guru in Vienna (Roundup)

Jun 2, 2009, 15:31 GMT

Vienna - Some 500 followers of a late Indian religious leader gathered Tuesday in Vienna to pay their last respects to the guru who was killed in last week's attack on a temple in Austria's capital.

Vienna police came out in force to protect the quiet mourning ceremony of the Dera Sach Khand sect, following the shooting on May 24 which had also left another guru and more than a dozen followers injured and sparked violent unrest in parts of India.

'They should teach people not to do such things,' said Shiv Rattu, a community official who had travelled from London to Vienna, where sect leader Niranjan Dass was laid out at the Zentralfriedhof, the city's largest cemetery.

He was referring to mainstream Sikhs, who often consider groups such as Dera Sach Khand as deviating from their true religion and practices, even though they share some teachings.

Although all of the six Indian men who opened fire during the religious service on May 24 have been caught, investigators have made little headway in finding out which movement was behind the incident.

The sect's members do not consider themselves to be part of Sikhism. The movement mostly has followers among the Dalit or low- caste Indians.

'You can kill but you cannot silence the voice of the people,' Rattu said.

Besides the temple attacked, there are two other mainstream Sikh temples in Vienna, but police have so far not been able to confirm that the attackers belong to these other groups.

Letters by groups claiming responsibility have surfaced but are not considered to be authentic, Vienna's police spokesman Michael Takacs said.

Early last week, violent protests erupted in the northern Indian states of Punjab and Haryana after news spread of the Vienna incident, leaving three dead and at least 30 injured. There are several Deras, or sects, across these states.

The surviving guru, Rama Nand Dass, is expected to leave his hospital in Vienna and fly to India in the coming days, along with the remains of the slain sect leader.

The funeral is set to take place in the Punjab city of Jalandhar.