The standoff at the Damdama Gurudwara in Nagrasu of Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag has been resolved peacefully with a group of Nihang Sikhs who were holed up at the shrine since Saturday evening vacating the premises after talks with a delegation of sect members from Punjab, officials said on Tuesday.

The Nihangs finally came out of the gurudwara around 3.30pm on Tuesday and left on two bullet motorcycles for their homes in Punjab after an hour-long conversation with the district administrative and police officers.

A police officer was quoted as saying that the Nihangs mellowed down when they were promised that the arrested Nihangs would be granted bail soon because the police would not pursue the case further.

“But they didn’t want the matter to remain with Chamoli police, and so we agreed to their demand to transfer the case from Chamoli to Haridwar district,” said an officer.

Rudraprayag superintendent of police Niharika Tomar was quoted as saying: “They were angry for some reasons but came down after a detailed discussion over whatever happened to them. Everything is fine now in the area.”

Out of seven Nihangs, two had left the place on Sunday, one left on Tuesday morning and the remaining four left in the afternoon.

Behant Singh, head of the gurudwara, said: “We have been demanding security from the government for many years. Anybody can come here and kill us one day.”

The police had arrested four Nihangs in Karnaprayag when they attacked four shopkeepers with swords after a dispute over the parking of their vehicle. They were on their way to Hemkund Sahib in Chamoli.

While returning from Hemkund Sahib, some friends of the arrested Nihangs had allegedly captured the gurudwara.