Lahore, April 3 (IANS): A court in Pakistan's Punjab province on Monday sent in custody three persons accused of murdering shrine devotes, including "faith healer" Abdul Waheed, the media reported.

Abdul Waheed and two others were arrested outside the Ali Muhammad Gujjar shrine near Sargodha area of the province late on Saturday after they drugged the devotees and assaulted them with batons and stabbed 20 people to death on Sunday.

Officials said the custodian gave the worshippers intoxicants before killing them with knives and batons. Some of the victims were reported to have been found naked. 

The worshippers, followers of a local Sufi leader Mohammad Ali Gujjar who died two years ago, were accustomed to seeking spiritual cleansing by removing their clothes.

A number of possible motives have been suggested for the attack. The regional police chief, Zulfiqar Hameed, said: "The 50-year-old shrine custodian, Abdul Waheed, has confessed that he killed these people because he feared that they had come to kill him."

A case against Waheed and his accomplices has been filed by police who claimed that no one from the bereaved families came forward to complain.

According to the police, the bereaved families hold Waheed in high regard despite him confessing to the murder of their loved ones.

Waheed told Geo News that he had found his spiritual leader's son Asif adding poison to his food.

"I caught him and probed further, upon which I got to know a woman was also involved with him in the plan (of killing me)," he said.

Visits to shrines and offers of alms for the poor -- and cash to custodians -- remains a very popular custom in Pakistan. Many believe this will help get their prayers answered.