Alwar’s self-styled godman convicted of rape, sentenced to life imprisonment
NAILED During the trial that lasted for eight months, prosecution produced 31 witnessed against the accused
ALWAR: A district court on Wednesday sentenced a selfstyled godman to life imprisonment after convicting him for the rape of a woman follower a year ago. The court of additional district judge (number 1) Rajendra Sharma found Swami Kaushalendra Prapannacharya Falahari Maharaj, 60, of Divya Dham guilty of rape and criminal intimidation after eight months of trial.
The judge sentenced him to life imprisonment for rape with additional two years of imprisonment for criminal intimidation besides slapping a fine of ₹1,00,000, said additional public prosecutor Yogendra Singh Khatana. A woman from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, who is studying law in Jaipur, lodged an FIR against the self-styled godman in Bilaspur on September 11, 2017.
The Bilaspur police recorded her statement before a magistrate and got her medical examination done before transferring the case to the Aravali Vihar police station in the district. The Alwar police began probe into the case on September 20 and arrested the self-styled godman three days later. In her FIR, the woman alleged that Falahari Maharaj raped her in his ashram in Alwar on August 7 when she visited him to offer ₹3,000 stipend from an internship with a senior lawyer of the Supreme Court that she got on the Falahari Maharaj’s recommendation.
“When I told my parents about the stipend, they told me to offer it to Falahari baba,” she wrote in the FIR.
The charge sheet was filed on December 14, 2017. The trial lasted around eight months. The prosecution produced 31 witnessed, 78 documents and 22 articles in the court, Khatana said.
Falahari Maharaj’s lawyer Ashok Sharma said his client will challenge the verdict in the high court.
A WOMAN FROM BILASPUR IN CHHATTISGARH, LODGED AN FIR AGAINST THE SELFSTYLED GODMAN IN BILASPUR