CHANDIGARH, May 18: Thousands of armed police were deployed in India's northern state of Punjab after one person died and more than 50 were injured in several days of clashes between Sikhs and followers of a sect.

The army was also put on alert, officials said on Friday.

The clashes began on Monday after the controversial leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect, which combines social work with spirituality, dressed up as Guru Gobind Singh, the revered 17th century Sikh guru.

Sikh leaders reacted angrily, calling it an act of sacrilege. Skirmishes between the rival groups flared into mob violence on Thursday when the Sikh religion's highest spiritual body, the Akal Takht, asked Sikhs to boycott the sect.

A man was shot dead by an unidentified gunman outside the sect's compound in Sunam city, while dozens of people were injured in clashes in several parts of the state.

More than 10,000 armed federal police have been sent to Punjab and the neighbouring state of Haryana.

Fearing an escalation of violence, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, himself a Sikh, appealed for calm.

“I appeal to the people of Punjab and Haryana to maintain calm,” Singh told reporters in New Delhi. “The situation should not be allowed to go out of control.”

Sikhs came out on the streets and burnt effigies of the sect leader in the cities of Amritsar, Ludhiana and Khanna in Punjab. Brandishing traditional swords and sticks, Sikh youths forced shopkeepers to down shutters.

In Sunam district, more than 300 supporters of the Dera sect were evacuated under police protection, an official said.

Schools and colleges were closed on Thursday and Friday in many parts of Punjab.

The sect leader, Gurmeet Ram Raheem Singh, has denied any wrongdoing.

“I have not imitated anyone,” he said in a statement. “I won't hurt anyone's feelings.”

The Dera sect, which has tens of thousands of followers, says it is a social organisation that believes in the oneness of god and does not adhere to a particular faith, though its leader wears a turban and has a long beard in the Sikh style.—Reuters