Controversial spiritual guru Asaram Bapu has been booked on charges of raping a 15-year-old girl at his ashram in Jodhpur after a complaint was filed by the victim’s father on August 19, the Delhi Police said on Wednesday. According to the police, the incident occurred on August 15.
The victim is a student of a gurukul in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh. On August 7, the hostel superintendent reportedly called up the victim’s family in Uttar Pradesh and told them that she had been hospitalised. The hostel superintendent told the victim’s father that they had to take the girl for a CT scan, and it seemed that she was possessed by an evil spirit, said the police.
But on reaching the gurukul the next day, the victim’s parents found her to be fit and healthy. The warden told them that Asaram had sent a mantra to bless the girl, after which she gained consciousness. They told her to take her to Asaram’s ashram in Jodhpur for a religious ceremony to cleanse her soul, saying that she had been possessed by witches. The warden told them that Asaram was ready to perform the ceremony himself and they should not delay their trip, police said.
The victim, accompanied by her parents, reached Jodhpur on August 14. “One of Baba’s sewaks gave us a room. He told us that the religious ceremony would be carried out the next day,” the victim said in her complaint to the police.
 On the evening of August 15, the victim and her parents reportedly went to meet Asaram Bapu. “Baba asked my parents to meditate outside, and called me inside a room. He asked me about my studies. He told me that I have the capability to become a spokesperson of his organisation. Then he asked one his sewaks to tell my parents to leave as the ceremony would take some time,” she said in her complaint.
Source: Indian Express