The 16-year-old girl from Shahajahanpur of Uttar Pradesh had accused Asaram of raping her at his ashram in Manai village near Jodhpur on the night of August 15, 2013, while in Gujarat, two Surat-based sisters lodged separate complaints against the self-styled godman and his son Narayan Sai, accusing them of rape.
August 2013:
Asaram was taken into police custody in August 2013, following which he was taken to Jodhpur Central jail. A month later, a potency test was conducted on him and was produced before a Jodhpur court. While the self-styled godman has filed a number of bail petitions, a total of 12 applications were rejected by the trial court, the Rajasthan High Court, and the Supreme Court.
2014-2015
Asaram's doctor Amrut Prajapat was shot in Gujarat's Rajkot in June 2014. His cook Akhil Gupta and another key witness, Kripal Singh, were shot dead in 2015 in Uttar Pradesh. Mahendra Chawala and Rahul Sachan, two other witnesses, were attacked on the premises of the Jodhpur court in 2015. They survived and went ahead to depose against Asaram.
Verdict in 2018:
Ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict, security was beefed up in Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana. The judgement in the case was pronounced inside the Jodhpur Central Jail, fearing possible communal violence similar to that in Panchkula following the conviction of controversial godman Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case.
The Jodhpur Court had dismissed a petition seeking entry of media persons in Central Jail of Jodhpur for the coverage of the judgement.
Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) will be imposed in Jodhpur till April 30.
(With Inputs From ANI)
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