3 more cases pending against the ‘godman’

Apart from the alleged sexual assault of a minor in Jodhpur, self-styled godman Asaram has three more cases against him – two in Jodhpur and one in Surat.

The Jodhpur cases pertain to threatening a police officer and fabricating documents in the Supreme Court for securing bail. The case in Gujarat’s Surat district has been filed by two sisters who have accused Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of sexually assaulting them.

Jodhpur police had registered a case against Asaram and his personal caretaker Shiva and three of his followers in November 2014 for allegedly issing life threats to the station house officer (SHO) of Udaimandir police station on instant messaging app called WhatsApp. The message mentioned teaching a lesson to the SHO and hurting his family members.

Following a directive by the Supreme Court, the Jodhpur Police registered another case against Asaram and others in February 2017 for filing fake documents in support of interim bail application. During the hearing of Asaram’s interim bail application in January 2017, the apex court found that slef-styled godman had submitted fake medical report. On this, the court slapped a penalty of Rs one lakh on Asaram and ordered the police to register the case.

In the vase lodged in Surat, the elder of the two sisters has accused Asaram of rape while the younger one was allegedly raped by his son in their ashram.

The registration of cases unleashed alleged terror by his followers where in three witnesses have been killed, couple of them injured and one has gone missing.

JAIPUR/ AHMEDABAD: