Anticipatory bail plea of Asaram Bapu's aide rejected

Jodhpur: A Jodhpur court today rejected the anticipatory bail plea of a warden of one of Asaram Bapu's ashrams, who is a co-accused in the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl by the self-styled godman.

The District and Sessions court trashed the bail application of Shilpi, who heads the Chhindwara Gurukul ashram in Madhya Pradesh.

Referring to the Shilpi's role in the alleged conspiracy and "adequate evidence" against her, Judge Manoj Kumar Vyas observed that accepting the bail application of Shilpi was not fit at this stage of the investigation.

Shilpi, apprehending arrest by the police, had moved the application in the court yesterday stating that she has already been interrogated by the police in the case.

But the prosecution counsel Anand Purohit claimed that it was Shilpi who had conspired to send the girl to Asaram in Jodhpur by impressing upon her parents that she was "possessed by the evil spirits".

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After hearing the arguments, the judge rejected her bail application saying that "she is the important link required by the police in order to wrap up the investigation and cannot be given bail."

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