Cops raid Asaram's Vadodara ashram to trace his son's aides

VADODARA: Police today raided an ashram of controversial godman Asaram Bapu at Bil village near here suspecting that some aides of his fugitive son Narayan Sai, wanted in connection with a sexual assault case, were hiding there.

The associates of Narayan, however, were not found at the ashram, sources said.

The raid was carried out by a joint team of the Surat and Vadodara Police, apparently on the inputs given by Narayan Sai's aide Dharmendra Pariyar alias Dharmesh (28) who was arrested from Rajendra Nagar in Delhi on Friday.

Two Surat-based sisters had accused the self-styled spiritual leader and his son Narayan of repeatedly sexually assaulting them at their ashrams in Ahmedabad and Surat.

Surat Police recently registered two complaints -- one against Asaram and another against his son Narayan -- of rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges as alleged by the sisters.

The elder of the two sisters, in her complaint, had accused Asaram of repeated sexual assaults during her stay at his ashram on the outskirts Ahmedabad between 1997 and 2006.

The case against Asaram was transferred to Chandkheda police station as the incident took place here.

The younger sister in her complaint accused Narayan, whose whereabouts are still unknown, of repeated sexual assaults between 2002 and 2005 when she was living in their Surat ashram.

Asaram, 72, has already been booked for raping a minor daughter of one of his devotees at his Jodhpur ashram and was lodged in jail there before he was brought to Ahmedabad to face investigation in the fresh charge.

According to sources, Narayan has been switching his SIM cards and mobile phones and has so far changed around 17 SIM cards and mobile phones.