A Rajasthan Police team brought Asaram Bapu, 72, to Jodhpur on Sunday afternoon after arresting him past from his ashram in Indore in a sexual assault case lodged against him by a 16-year-old girl, an official said.
A police officer told IANS that after preliminary questioning, Asaram will be produced in a Rajasthan court, as it is a Sunday he may be taken to magistrate’s residence for seeking remand.
The spiritual guru was brought in a flight from Delhi to Jodhpur after being flown from Indore to Delhi.
Security was stepped up in Jodhpur ahead of Asaram’s arrival, he said.
“Heavy police force have been deployed at his ashram in Jodhpur, and the court where he will be produced and the police station concerned,” said the officer.
Meanwhile, state chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday said that no one is above law as spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, facing allegations of sexual assault.
Talking to media persons, Gehlot said that no actor, politician or any other person was above law.
“Let the law take its own course,” he said.
“The police should be allowed to do its job of unbiased investigation. We want that whoever is guilty should be punished,” said Gehlot.
The chief minister said police have made elaborate arrangement for maintaining law and order in Jodhpur.
The girl lodged a complaint at a police station in Delhi Aug 20, accusing Asaram of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Jodhpur. Asaram has denied the charge, and his son has claimed the girl was “mentally unstable”.
Police on Saturday arrested 13 followers of Asaram in Jodhpur for assaulting media persons covering developments in the sexual assault case.
Asaram has been booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Indian Penal Code.
According to the allegations of the girl, who studied at Asaram’s ashram in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhindwara and stayed in a girls’ hostel there, the guru sexually assaulted her on the pretext of exorcism.
Police also summoned hostel warden Shilpi, hostel attendant Keshav and Asaram Bapu’s caretaker Shiva for questioning Thursday.
“One of them – Shiva – appeared before police yesterday. He is being interrogated,” said the officer.
A police team also inspected the spiritual guru’s ashram near Jodhpur and recorded statements of several people to verify whether the girl and her parents were present at the ashram Aug 15 when the alleged incident took place.
Asaram has blamed Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her son and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi for his legal tangles. The Congress has rubbished the allegation.
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