Security of rape victim, witnesses in Narayan Sai case beefed up

Security of the victim and witnesses in an alleged rape case against Narayan Sai, son of self-styled godman Asaram, has been tightened on Wednesday, after an attack on a key witness in the case, police said.

"After the attack on a key witness Mahendra Chavla in Panipat district of Haryana today, the city police is on alert. We have tightened the security of the victim and other witnesses in the rape case against Narayan Sai," DCP SK Dave said. Surat police have provided foolproof security cover to the city-based rape victim and her family members besides four key witnesses in the case.

Earlier on Wednesday, unidentified assailants allegedly shot at Chavla. So far, two people, who had given testimonies in the rape case, have been killed and four others including Chavla have faced attacks.

Last year, a Gujarat-based witness Amrut Prajapati was shot dead in June at his clinic in Rajkot, while another prosecution witness Akhi Gupta was shot dead at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh.

A woman had accused Sai of repeated sexual assault between 2002 and 2005 when she was living at his Surat ashram, after which he was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including rape, unnatural sex, molestation and wrongful confinement.

Sai is lodged in a Surat jail since his arrest in December 2013.