Arson and heavy stone-pelting was witnessed in the Nirnayanagar neighbourhood in Ahmedabad on Friday after Asaram Bapu went to offer belated condolences to the grieving Vaghela family. Two minor boys went missing from the Ashram under mysterious circumstances early this month. The bodies were found a few days later on the Sabarmati riverbank in a mutilated condition. The internal organs were missing and in one of the bodies, the two ears had been sliced off. Mystery still surrounds the deaths of the two minors.

Today morning, people from the neighbourhood went on a rampage and set afire the very cushion which Asaram Bapu had used as a seat.

The police had to resort to a lathi charge and lob teargas shells to control the angry mob.

"Why did he come 15 days after we lost our children?" said Suresh Vaghela, uncle of Dipesh and Abhishek, the two deceased children.

The Vaghela family maintains that the two boys were sacrificed by the Ashram authorities as part of some 'black magic' ritual on Amavas Raat.

With tempers rising and lathi wielding devotees of the Ashram prowling in trucks and vans with the Ashram name painted across to take on the protesters, the police had put up a security cover for the Vaghelas.

But the family has refused to take police protection at their homes. "It's not us, but Asaram Bapu who might need police protection. We are not hooligans," said a Vaghela family member.

The Vaghelas are incensed that barely a fortnight after they lost the two children, the Ashram organised a grand celebration on the occasion of Guru Purnima. The family sees this as a show of strength by the Ashram authorities against the snowballing agitation by the people.