Court remands godman in judicial custody as SIT decides against seeking extension of remand.
After keeping Asaram Bapu in custody for eight days, Ahmedabad police did not seek an extension of his remand and decided to take him back to Jodhpur. On Tuesday evening, the self-styled godman was taken to Jodhpur by road by the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
To probe the charges of sexual assault slapped against him by a woman from Surat, SIT took his custody from Jodhpur jail through a transfer warrant issued on October 14. The Jodhpur court directed the SIT to bring Asaram back on or before October 25.
On October 15, he was remanded in five-day police custody by a court in Gandhinagar. After completion of that custody, SIT again got three-day custody of the godman till Tuesday October 22 from the court.
It is learned that SIT has acquired some crucial circumstantial evidence after interrogating Asaram, his wife Lakshmi and daughter Bharti. On Tuesday, Asaram’s second spell in custody got over. So, he was taken to a Gandhinagar court around 3.30 pm from the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) office, where he had been kept for interrogation for the last eight days.
After producing him in court, SIT did not ask for further custody. It, however, still had time till October 25. It is believed that sleuths did not seek further remand for Asaram as they had acquired enough evidence. Then, the district court remanded Asaram in judicial custody.
The public prosecutor requested the judge to send Asaram to Nadiad sub-jail instead of Sabarmati central jail owing to security reasons. “However, I opposed the move and insisted that Asaram be kept in Sabarmati jail as the security of that jail is much better than any other sub-jail. I don’t know why the government wanted Asaram lodged in Nadiad jail. It may be because Asaram’s disciple DG Vanzara is in central jail and the police do not want them together,” said Asaram’s lawyer BM Gupta.
After listening to the arguments, the court told the police to take Asaram to central jail. “The court also pointed out that the jail authorities would decide where to keep Asaram,” said Gupta.
SIT then left for Sabarmati jail with Asaram around 4:30 pm. But, it is learned that after making his entry in the jail register, SIT took an unexpected decision and left for Jodhpur by road around 6 pm.
Sources said as SIT did not want to take any chances with Asaram’s security in jail, it decided to hand him over to the Jodhpur police as soon as possible.
It is believed that SIT officials did not seek further remand for Asaram as they had acquired enough evidence
Part of Asaram’s ashram burnt down in Valsad
A portion of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu’s ashram was burnt down in Pariya village at Pardi taluka here by a group of ex-followers, who are upset after allegations of sexual assault surfaced against him, police said on Tuesday.
On Monday, some people who had provided land to Asaram Bapu for building his ashram in this remote tribal area burnt down a part of the structure, they said. They had earlier donated land to Asaram, but are no longer his supporters after the allegations of sexual assault resurfaced against him and his son Narayan Sai, they said.
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