Standoff

RUDRAPRAYAG (Gurpreet Singh): A tense standoff continued into its second day at the Nagrasu gurdwara along the Badrinath Highway after a group of armed Nihang Sikhs allegedly stormed the shrine, vandalised parts of the property, and took a Sikh devotee hostage on the rooftop. The group, armed with spears, swords, axes, and kirpans, barricaded themselves on the third floor and terrace of the shrine on Saturday evening to demand the immediate release of four faction members arrested after a violent clash in Chamoli last week. The unfolding crisis prompted a massive deployment of the Uttarakhand Police, the Provincial Armed Constabulary,…