Ahmedabad, July 26(IANS) The police have arrested seven people from religious leader Asaram Bapu’s ashram here for their alleged involvement in an assault on scribes covering clashes following the mysterious death of two boys in the ashram. The police searched the ashram in Motera area Friday and seized wooden batons and a pick-up truck (GJ-18T 2094).

However according to the police, Asaram Bapu quietly slipped out of the ashram catching a flight to Delhi even before the place was searched.

The arrests follow a complaint by journalists who were assaulted by the ashram people July 18, when protest over the mysterious deaths of two boys studying in the ashram school turned violent with angry people setting fire to vehicles and even homes.

The two boys went missing July 4. Their bodies were recovered from the Sabarmati riverbed July 5 morning.