Asaram Bapu comes out of the District sessions court in Jodhpur where he was produced after his arrest
Spiritual leader Asaram Bapu, arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a school girl, has told the Rajasthan Police that he did not spend time alone with the 16-year-old at his ashram at Jodhpur earlier this month.
The student and her parents have alleged that the 75-year-old spent nearly an hour in a room with her, promising to exorcize her of evil spirits.
"We have gathered sufficient evidence, all that the girl said has been corroborated in the past 10 days," said senior Jodhpur police officer Ajay Lamba.
The guru, who was arrested on Saturday night and brought to Jodhpur on Sunday, where he is being kept at a Rajasthan police guesthouse, says he is innocent and that he met the girl and her family as part of the massive crowd that gathered on August 20 for his "satsang" or religious discourse.
He had also claimed he was not medically capable of sexual assault. "Asaram Bapu lied when he said he has neurological disorder," said Mr Lamba. "Our doctors have found him to be medically fit."
He cleared a "potency test", said the police.
The police took him on Sunday to the ashram in an attempt to gather more evidence and clarity on the chain of events that ended with a police case being filed against the preacher.
In a series of high-drama attempts to avoid being arrested last week, the guru had claimed that he is sick.
The girl and her father have said that Asaram Bapu threatened to harm them if they reported the alleged assault.