Protesting against the CBI filing a murder case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, sect supporters on Saturday went on the rampage, setting ablaze trains and buses, pelting vehicles with stones and vandalising property in several places in Punjab and Haryana.

The protesters set on fire a compartment each of the Ferozepur-Ludhiana Sutlej Express and two local passenger trains in Punjab, a Northern Railways spokesman said. They also vandalised railway property at Tapa, Moga and Kalaiyat in Punjab, he added.

Passengers were asked to disembark before the protesters set alight the compartments, the spokesman said.

Six buses were torched and stoned in Moga and vehicles were damaged at Bathinda, Mansa, Talwandi Sabo and Bhagapurana in Punjab, and Kaithal, Sirsa and Fatehabad in Haryana.

A post office was set on fire at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda by some people who also forced the closure of shops and commercial establishments at Mansa in Punjab.

Last week, the CBI booked Singh for the murder of sect manager Faqir Chand in 1991. Singh also faces three other cases, including one of sexual exploitation and two of murder of another sect manager and a Sirsa-based journalist.

A report from Fatehabad said two empty buses, parked in a workshop of the Haryana Roadways, and a bill collection centre of the Power Department were set on fire. Two other buses were torched by the protesters on the Ambala-Hissar bypass at Kaithal and one was set afire in the nearby town of Narawan.