The Ahmedabad city police have procured a transfer warrant from a court in Gandhinagar to question self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, currently lodged in a jail in Jodhpur, in connection with a sexual assault case lodged by two sisters from Surat against him and his son.
“We have got evidence against Asaram during probe. We want to interrogate him and so we have procured a transfer warrant from a court in Gandhinagar,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Sector-I) J.K. Bhatt told reporters in Ahmedabad.
A police team from the city is expected to leave for Jodhpur any time to bring and produce the self-styled godman before a judicial magistrate in Gandhinagar.
A case was lodged in Surat’s Jehangirpura police station, which was later transferred to Chandkheda police station in Ahmedabad, against Asaram on the allegations of the elder of the two sisters that she was repeatedly sexually abused at his ashram in Motera in Gujarat.
The elder sister, in her complaint, had accused Asaram of repeated sexual assault between 1997 and 2006 during the time she had been living in his ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad city.
The younger sister had filed a complaint against Asaram’s son Narayan Sai, accusing him of repeated sexual assault between 2002 and 2005 when she was living in their Surat ashram.
The whereabouts of Sai are not known.
Six police teams formed by Surat police to trace Narayan Sai claim to have got vital clues regarding the case.
On Tuesday, the police had started video graphing the entire ashram and conducted a thorough inspection of the premises.
“We have got evidence against Sai and the case is progressing expeditiously,” Surat Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana told reporters in Surat.
A lookout notice was issued against Sai on Monday after fresh sexual abuse complaints were lodged against the father-son duo by two sisters.
Asaram, 72, was arrested in August on charges of sexually assaulting a minor girl and has been in prison in Jodhpur since then.
The Surat police had recently registered two complaints -- one against Asaram and another against Sai -- of rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges.
