August 27, 2013
The spiritual guru has been booked under various sections of IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act
Jodhpur: Jodhpur police have written to the immigration department to issue a look-out notice against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu to ensure he does not leave the country.
August 27, 2013
The spiritual guru has been booked under various sections of IPC and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act
Jodhpur: Jodhpur police have written to the immigration department to issue a look-out notice against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu to ensure he does not leave the country.
"We have issued a request letter to Joint Director- Immigration in Delhi seeking look-out notice against Asaram who has been summoned by Jodhpur police in connection with a sexual exploitation case lodged against him," DCP Ajay Lamba said.A team of Jodhpur police delivered summons to Asaram in Indore on Tuesday, he said.
The team had to wait for nearly eight hours in the ashram of Asaram to meet him and for delivering the notice, Lamba said.
When asked what the police will do if the accused failed to appear within the given time-frame, the official said, "We will later decide what step we have to take if Asaram does not come."
Earlier, Jodhpur police delivered summons to Asaram in Ahmedabad to appear before it for questioning by August 30 in connection with the allegation of sexual abuse levelled against him by the 16-year-old girl.
The notice was served to Asaram at his ashram in Indore.
The girl had made a complaint at a police station in Delhi on Aug 20, accusing Asaram Bapu of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Rajasthan's Jodhpur city, police said. A first information report (FIR) was registered against Asaram in Jodhpur after receiving a copy of the complaint from Delhi Police on Aug 21.
"We had come to know that Asaram was in Indore, so a team was rushed there with a notice requiring him to be present before the police before or on Aug 30," said a police official in Jodhpur. The official added that the team had reached the ashram in Indore early Tuesday but was, however, not allowed entry by Asaram's supporters.
"The devotees said he was in meditation, so our team waited there for eight hours before it managed to personally hand over the summon to Asaram Bapu," said the official. Sources said that supporters shouted slogans against the police action.
Asaram has been booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code, the official said.
A police team inspected the spiritual guru's ashram and recorded statements of several people to verify whether the girl and her parents were at the ashram on Aug 15 when the girl says she was sexually assaulted.
"During preliminary investigation, it has come up that the girl and her parents and Asaram Bapu were present in the ashram on Aug 15. The owner of the land, which is being used for the ashram, told police that the girl and her parents had come to the ashram to meet him," said the official.
Refutes molestation charges
Meanwhile, Asaram Bapu refuted allegations of molestation leveled at him and asked why the girl had waited for five days before registering a complaint.
Asaram said the ashram where the alleged incident is supposed to have taken place was very peaceful and the slightest of sounds could have been heard. "Her parents were sitting outside. How could they not have heard if she would have cried. I am supposed to have held her mouth for over one and a half hours," the spiritual guru said.
He said that after the incident took place, the girl went and met some friends nearby and didn't tell them anything. "She told her friends nothing has happened. I can produce the friends. "If this (the molestation) had happened then she would have said something then. She went home after four or five days and registered a complaint," he said.
He denied meeting the girl alone. "I didn't meet the girl. I meet everybody, but the way she is saying it is completely false."
He said “the truth will come out" and he was not worried as he had faced much worse allegations in the past.
"I do not intend to take anticipatory bail but it all depends on my followers," Asaram said.
Courtesy: PTI
