Rise and fall of ‘godman’ who sold spirituality Charges could get Asaram from 10 years to life in jail
FAST PACE Started from a small hut in 1971 on the banks of Sabarmati, Bapu’s empire was worth ~5,000 cr by 2008
7km from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Motera, a suburban area popular as a luxury hub for Gujarat’s wealthy and powerful, was witness to the rise of another ‘Bapu’.
This ‘Bapu’, aged 30 then, started from a small hut in 1971 on the banks of Sabarmati river. In two decades, he went on to style himself as a ‘godman’ Asaram. The followers grew in numbers, reaching in crores, and ashrams came up thick and fast, in India and abroad.
By 2008, the ‘godman’s’ empire was worth ~5,000 crore, with 40 gurukuls (residential schools), a trust, a printing press that publishes material on his interpretation of scriptures, and an ayurveda unit producing medicine and general items like soaps, shampoos among others.
On April 17, 1941, Asaram was born, as Asumal, in Berani village in Sindh, now in Pakistan. After the partition six years later, his family migrated to Maninagar, Ahmedabad, where it set up a business in coal and firewood. After his father’s death, Asumal, studying in Class 3, dropped out of Jay Hind High School.
At the age of 15, according to his biography which was published by his own ashram, Asumal had ran away just days before his wedding but was brought back by his family and ‘persuaded’ into marriage with one Lakshmi Devi. A father of two, Asumal again left home, for the Himalayas where he would meet his “spiritual guru” in Lilashahji in Nanital. It was Lilashahji who named him Asaram before the latter set up his own ashram in Ahmedabad, with 10 followers. His next big stop would be Surat, where he found a large number of followers among the tribals.
“He marketed the spiritualism quite well. He would give his followers food, utensils, and medicine for free. But at his core, he grew into a true businessman owning chunks of lands and with huge investments in share and stock market,” said a veteran journalist, not wanting to be identified. Asumal-turned-Asaram was joined by his family — wife, daughter and son Narayan Sai, who himself faces rape charges.
As Asaram’s fame grew, politicians began attending his ‘satsangs’. The Congress government in 1981 and the BJP government in 1997 gave Asaram 15,000 sqm and 25,000 sqm land, respectively, for ashram’s expansion.
His official website, has testimonies by three prime ministers and two Presidents of India, including Narendra Modi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Chandra Shekhar, APJ Abdul Kalam and K R Narayan. Kapil Sibal and kamal Nath, senior Congress leaders, are also part of the list.
While giving court proceedings updates, the website also tries to dismiss all the allegations and cases against Asaram, ranging from land grabbing, black magic, murder and finally rape.
AHMEDABAD:About
LEGAL TROUBLE
Asaram’s trouble began in 2008 when bodies of two cousins and Gurukul mates Dipesh Vaghela(10) and Abhishek Vaghela (11) were found in mutilated condition, on Sabarmati riverbank near ashram in 2008.
The State CID had in 2009 booked seven followers of Asaram in the death case of two children under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against whom charge sheet was filed in September 2012. Asaram was not implicated in this case. By them he was also hit by land grabbing controversy in Surat. The matter is still sub-judice.
RAPE CHARGES
It was only months after the Jodhpur sexual assault case was reported in 2013, two sisters from Surat in Gujarat came forward to register similar cases against Asaram and son Narayan Sai. Eldest of two had accused Asaram of rape and the younger one was allegedly raped by Sai in Asaram’s Surat ashram. The cases unleashed alleged terror by his followers where in three witnesses were killed, couple of them injured and one has gone missing.
2013
August 20: A 15-year-old girl from Uttar Pradesh files a police complaint in Delhi, accusing Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Jodhpur on August 15. August 21: The case is shifted to Jodhpur and an FIR is registered.
August 23: His supporters attack a police station in Delhi and assault media persons demanding the quashing of the FIR.
August 31: Asaram is arrested from Indore. September 1: He is produced in Jodhpur court, and a potency test is conducted.
September 2: He is remanded into judicial custody. September 26: Additional district and sessions judge Manoj Kumar Vyas receives a postcard warning him of ‘adverse consequences’
November 6: Charge sheet is filed against Asaram and four others in the Jodhpur rape case.
2014
August 1: Asaram is rushed to a hospital after he complains of ill-health.
August 19: The Supreme Court refuses bail to Asaram but agrees to set up a board to examine his medical condition.
September 23: The Supreme Court says Asaram’s health is not precarious enough to release him on bail. October 15: The Supreme Court asks AIIMS to set up a medical board to review Asaram’s health reports and clinically examine him, if required. This was in response to Asaram’s plea that he needs bail for medical treatment.
2015
January 5: A panel of AIIMS doctors submits a report in the Supreme Court ruling out requirement for any surgery on Asaram, and stating that his illness can be treated through medicine.
January 20: The Supreme Court dismisses the plea for interim bail on the basis of AIIMS report
July 17: Kripal Singh, a withness in the rape case, is shot at by two unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. Kripal succumbs to his injuries the day after.
November 25: Rahul Sachan, a witness in all three rape cases (two against Asaram and one against his son Narayan Sai) goes missing from Kaiserbagh bus stand in Lucknow.
2016
August 29: Allahabad high court orders a CBI probe into the disappearance of an important witness.
2017
January 30: Police include fresh charges against Asaram for allegedly submitting forged documents to seek release from jail.
18
April 7: A special SC/ST court completes hearing the final arguments, reserves its order for April 25 in the rape case
April 17: Rajasthan high court directs the special SC/ST court in Jodhpur to pronounce its verdict
25: The special court in pur is set to ounce its verdict in Jodhpur rape case inst Asaram
The Rajasthan police had filed its charge sheet against self-styled godman Asaram in connection with the case of allegedly raping a minor girl in 2013.
If convicted, the 72-year-old could be awarded from 10 years to life imprisonment.
Police had told the court on the basis of the mobile call details how Asaram and his four associates plotted the criminal conspiracy to rape the 16-yearold girl at the Manai ashram, 30km from Jodhpur, on August 15, 2013.
The other accused in the charge sheet are Sharad and Shilpi, the two wardens of the hostel in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh where the girl was studying in a residential school run by Asaram’s trust; associates Shiva and Prakash, who had helped in the crime by contacting the girl’s father to tell him that his daughter had been ‘possessed’ and had to be taken to Jodhpur to meet “babaji” who would “cure her”.
In its 1,011-page charge sheet, the police included 121 documents and statements of 58 witnesses. Asaram is accused of trafficking, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation, rape and criminal conspiracy.
Section 370 (4) of IPC (trafficking):
Asaram conspired with Sharad and Shilpi, wardens of the hostel, to sexually exploit the girl. He was aided by associates Shiva and Prakash who contacted the girl’s father to bring her to Jodhpur.
Section 342 (wrongful confinement):
Asaram called the victim to the ashram’s room in the night of the alleged incident and closed the door from inside. The victim was kept in the room for one and a half hours for sexual exploitation and rape.
Section 354A (sexual harassment), 506, 509 (criminal intimidation, insulting modesty of a woman) and Section 7/8 of POCSO Act (sexual assault):
While holding the victim captive, Asaram opened his clothes and displayed nudity in front of the victim. The victim was sexually abused even though she continued to oppose. Asaram threatened to kill the victim and her parents.
JODHPUR:
Section 376 (rape):
While holding the victim captive, the main accused molested the victim with touching her private part and raped her.
Section 376 (2)(F) (rape on woman below 12 years):
The main accused Asaram was guru of the parents of the victim for several years. The victim herself considered him as God and was studying in a school run by his ashram. Despite person being in a position of trust, the accused raped her.
Section 5 (F)/6 of POCSO Act (any management or staff of an educational institution commits penetrative sexual assault):
The victim was a minor and was studying in a school run by Asaram’s Trust. While being a trustee in the management of the educational institution, the accused raped her.
Section 376D (intercourse by a management or staff of a hospital) and 5(G)/6 of POCSO Act (gang penetrative sexual assault on a child):
By forming a gang with his associates Shilpi, Sharad, Prakash and Shiva, Asaram raped and sexually abused the victim.
(Section 376D of IPC has been added because the school staff had told her father that the girl was possessed and had to be taken to Asaram for treatment).
Punishment: If the prosecution is able to prove its allegations on the basis of the police chargesheet, Asaram can be punished for imprisonment for a minimum of ten years and a maximum of life imprisonment.