According to media reports, Priti and Priya had escaped from their home and joined Sanatan Sanstha three years back. It was alleged that the girls had been hypnotised by the organisation's workers and kept captive.
The two sisters, whose family had alleged that Sanatan Sanstha had hypnotised the girls to join the outfit, rubbished the allegation in an interaction with the press on Thursday. The girls told the media that they had run away from their home town in Uttar Pradesh fed up with their family's torture.
According to media reports, Priti and Priya had escaped from their home and joined Sanatan Sanstha three years back. It was alleged that the girls had been hypnotised by the organisation's workers and kept captive.
“Priya and I are not staying in Sanatan Sanstha's ashram, we are living independently. We were never hypnotised or kept forcefully... The allegation is totally false; our family is maligning the Sanstha because it is helping us. We were scared for our lives as my mother and brother just wanted to get us married to rich men so that they could lead peaceful lives,” said Priti.
The girls said that before they left home they were running a beauty parlour and earning well. Their mother and brother would allegedly torture them for their earnings. “I was married off to an alcoholic. I returned home within months. But my mother was greedy and wanted me to marry a rich Kolkata businessman even though I was not divorced,” said Priti. “It was then that we decided to run away, and came to Mumbai.”
The sisters claimed that they came to know about the Sanstha through a local newspaper and that, after they came to Mumbai, they got in touch with a man who led them to IG Khandelwal. The latter got in touch with advocate Sanjeev Punalekar, who represents Sanatan Sanstha. “We were taken to the ashram and we decided to became sadhaks. It's because of the Sanstha that we are living a decent life,” said Priya.
“A few years ago our parents came to take us back; then too the Sanstha never stopped us from going with them. But once we reached home, it was the same story, so we left again.”
Khandelwal, who has been taking care of the girls, said, “I am a social worker and the allegations against me are baseless. I have not kept the girls captive. They were in need of help, so I helped them.”
“Sanatan Sanstha is not doing anything illegal by helping the two. They are here and anyone can make inquiries with them. There is a conspiracy behind these allegations...” said Punalekar.
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