Police on Friday arrested an aide of Asaram Bapu’s son Narayan Sai, who is wanted in a sexual assault case, for allegedly help him abscond.
Dharmesh, who was in-charge of self-styled godman Asaram’s Ridge Road ashram, was nabbed here this morning from his hideout in a joint operation by Crime Branch of Delhi Police and Gujarat Police.
Police is expected to produce him in a local court in New Delhi. He would be taken to Gujarat for questioning.
A team of Gujarat Police has been camping in Delhi since the last couple of days in search of Sai in connection with a sexual assault complaint against the father-son duo registered by two sisters.
Raid in Bihar ashram
Meanwhile, the Gujarat Police raided an ashram in Ariyari village in Bihar’s Darbhanga district in search of Narayan Sai.
A three-member team of Gujarat Police assisted by their Bihar counterparts raided the ashram in search of Sai, but could not find him, police sources said.
Kaushal Kumar alias Hanuman, reported to be a bodyguard of Sai, a resident of the village got wind of the arrival of the Gujarat Police and fled, the sources said.
Sai had visited the Bihar ashram suspectedly with the two complainant sisters, two years ago, they said.
The Gujarat Police had gone to an ashram in Jaynagar in neighbouring Madhubani district yesterday where Sai had been on a visit in the past and from where he is believed to have left for Kathmandu, the sources said.
A report from Madhubani said that Sai had gone to the Jaynagar ashram in 2005 at the invitation of a disciple, Ram Kumar.
The sexual assault complaint against Asaram and Sai was filed at Jehangirpura Police Station in Surat.
Surat Police had recently registered two complaints — one against Asaram, the other against Sai — of rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges as alleged by the two sisters.
The younger of the two sisters has filed the complaint against Sai, accusing him of repeated sexual assault between 2002 and 2005, when she was living at the Surat ashram.