Teen who complained of sexual assault is mentally ill, says Asaram Bapu's son

Jodhpur: The teen who has accused Asaram Bapu of sexually assaulting her at his ashram in Jodhpur is "mentally ill," the spiritual leader's son, Narayan Sai, said today.

He said the 72-year-old did spend over an hour in a room alone with the teen, but committed no crime. "Bapu (Father) says, 'The girl said I was with her for over an hour. How is it possible that for an hour or an hour and a half, I keep my hand over her mouth, she keeps screaming and no one hears? How is possible that a girl screams and her parents who are in the next building can't hear her? There has been a lot of exaggeration in this case and the probe shows that there is no case for such crime."

Earlier this week, Asaram Bapu, who has been ordered to travel to Jodhpur by Friday for interrogation by the police, described the teen as "pure and blameless." The fact that her parents are his disciples, he professed, makes her his grand-daughter.

Asaram Bapu's son said that the complainant was a hosteller at his ashram in Madhya Pradesh, one of more than 400 around the world. She travelled with her parents to Jodhpur for a meeting with Asaram Bapu to discuss her mental health, he alleged.

The teen's father has alleged that Asaram Bapu had "tried to silence her... told her 'my gunmen are outside, be quiet or they will kill you and your parents'." In her statement to the police, the teen has also said that she was warned by him not to report the crime.