Asaram Bapu’s son Narayan Sai convicted of rape by Surat court

A Surat district court Friday found Narayan Sai, the son of Asaram Bapu and four others guilty of rape. Judge P S Gadhvi, who pronounced the order to a packed court, said the quantum of sentence will be delivered on April 30. Sai, who was present in court, was seen laughing with his lawyer ahead of the judgment. Of the 10 accused in the case, the court convicted five, including Ganga alias Dharmishta Mishra, Jamna alias Bhavika Patel, Hanuman alias Kaushal Thakur and Ramesh Malhotra, Five others — Mohit Bhojwani, Monica Agrawal, Pankaj Deora, Ajay Diwan and Neha Diwan — were acquitted by the court. All accused except Sai are currently out on bail. Security had been heightened in and around the court ahead of the verdict. Case against Narayan Sai Sai was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, unnatural sex, molestation, wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, rioting armed with deadly weapon, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy, after the younger of two sisters accused him of repeated sexual assault between 2002 and 2005. The victim said she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Sai when she was living at his ashram in Surat, Gujarat. The victim’s elder sister, in a separate FIR, had levelled charges of repeated sexual assault against Sai’s father Asaram between 1997 and 2006 when she was living at his ashram near Ahmedabad. Source: Indian Express