Spiritual leader Asaram Bapu (file pic)
The Jodhpur Police has reportedly gathered crucial evidence against spiritual leader Asaram Bapu in a case of sexual assault of a minor girl. Police officials have told NDTV that the description of the scene of crime matches with the details given by the 15-year-old girl in the First Information Report.
"As of now, we have established that the accused and the victim were physically present at the location," Jodhpur Police Commissioner Biju George Joseph said yesterday.
Asaram Bapu has also reportedly admitted that he met the girl at his ashram in Jodhpur, but has denied her allegations of a sexual assault.
Two teams of the Jodhpur Police are investigating the allegations made by the girl, and sources say they will interrogate the spiritual leader after their initial probe is complete.
The girl, who is from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, has alleged in her complaint that Asaram Bapu had asked her to stay back after prayers last week and then sexually assaulted her as her mother waited outside.
The girl has said that when her father brought her to Delhi to meet the spiritual leader at a camp earlier this month, he left without meeting them. Her father then lodged a complaint with the police.
The girl's family says they have been followers of Asaram Bapu for the past 12 years.
The 15-year-old had submitted a written complaint against Asaram Bapu at Kamala Market police station in central Delhi on Tuesday evening. Her father had reportedly insisted that the case should be registered in Delhi, saying it will be suppressed in Rajasthan. A Delhi Police official said a case was registered but was later transferred to Jodhpur.
In January, a case of attempted murder was registered by the Gujarat Police against Asaram Bapu and two others. He has also been accused of illegal land-grabbing in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
Asaram Bapu was also severely criticised for his remark in the gang-rape case of a 23-year-old student in Delhi when he said the girl could have escaped rape if she had called her attackers brothers, and pleaded to be let off.