Indian guru flies home from Vienna with body of slain sect leader

Jun 3, 2009, 13:28 GMT

Vienna - An Indian religious leader injured in a recent attack on a Vienna temple was flown home Wednesday, along with the remains of a fellow guru of his sect who was killed in the incident.

Niranjan Dass left the Austrian capital on an aircraft sent by the Indian government, having spent the days since the May 24 attack recovering from gunshot wounds in a local hospital, Vienna police confirmed.

A counter-terrorism police unit kept watch as the body of guru Rama Nand Dass was also loaded onto the plane that left for New Delhi.

From there, it was to be flown to the northern Indian state of Punjab for an official funeral scheduled for Thursday, according to Austrian authorities.

Sixteen people were injured in the Vienna attack, which sparked violent unrest in the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana.

Police have caught the six Indian-born attackers, but so far they have have not been able to determine the exact background of the incident.

Mainstream Sikhs often consider sects such as Dera Sach Khand as deviating from their true religion and practices, even though they share some teachings.