JODHPUR: Self-styled godman Asaram was on Wednesday convicted by a court here for raping a teenager at his ashram near here in 2013. Special Judge (SC/ST court) Madhusudhan Sharma delivered the verdict in the Jodhpur Central jail premises.The girl from Shahajahanpur in Uttar Pradesh, was studying at the godman's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh . The victim had alleged that Asaram called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the night of August 15, 2013.The chargesheet against Asaram and four other co-accused Shiva, Shilpi, Sharad and Prakash was filed by the police on November 6, 2013 under various sections of the POSCO Act, Juvenile Justice Act and IPC.The 77-year-old Asaram was arrested in Indore and brought to Jodhpur on September 1, 2013. He is under judicial custody since September 2, 2013. IPS officer Ajay Pal Lamba was in office when a team of Delhi police, along with a minor girl and her father, came to meet him on August 21, 2013. Lamba was then the deputy commissioner of police Jodhpur West. The girl was there to complain against being sexually assaulted allegedly by spiritual guru Asaram.“At first, I did not believe the family’s version and thought it could be an attempt to defame a big man. Proving me wrong, the girl gave a clear map of Asaram’s ashram at Manai village, around 38-km from Jodhpur, where she was assaulted. How can a person give a map of the room, which is a crime scene, without visiting there? That was the trigger point for our investigation that followed,” recalled Lamba, who is presently posted with Anti-Corruption Bureau “Later we came to know about a Meerut family that had complained about a similar crime by Asaram to the local police. When we went to meet the family we were told it was unwilling to lodge any complaint. That was the second trigger point,” Lamba added.The police’s masterstroke came on August 31. “We had absolutely no clue about the whereabouts of Asaram. Still we sent a team having five police officers and six commandos to his ashram in Indore (Madhya Pradesh). Simultaneously, we held a press conference in Jodhpur to bluff that he was on our radar. This irked Asaram and he suddenly appeared at Bhopal airport in the afternoon of August 31, 2013. We shared the info with the media persons, who started chasing him. Asaram, without knowing about our team’s presence in the city, reached his Indore Ashram,” Lamba said.Asaram and his followers attempted to allure the policemen by saying all his property would be transferred. “We got everything from getting huge money to life threats. Amid all this, there was people’s faith that kept us going.” Lamba later got nearly 1600 letters in which anonymous people gave him life threats.

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