By IANS
Chandigarh : A young follower of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect Sunday evening died minutes after setting himself on fire at a village in Bathinda district, the Punjab police said.
Gurjit Singh, 25, was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead by doctors. Police officials said that the body had been sent for post mortem.
He set himself on fire outside a gurudwara at Bhangi Nihalsinghwala, over 250 km from here, after being upset over events of the last few days in which sect followers were being humiliated and boycotted socially.
Sect spokesman Aditya Arora said that reports reaching him from the village suggested that the follower had died. Gurjit had been married only six months ago, he said.
This is the third dera follower to commit self-immolation following controversies surrounding the sect since May. One sect follower had died in Sirsa town and another in a village near Bathinda after they set themselves on fire.
The sect has been facing protests from many Sikhs after the sect chief was accused of portraying himself like 10th Sikh guru Gobind Singh in May this year.