Asaram used a torch to signal aides to bring girls to his room: witness
Jodhpur: Asaram believed that sexual exploitation of girls is not a sin for a 'Brahmgyani' or a highly enlightened person, a prosecution witness had deposed to the court during the trial that ended on Wednesday in a life-sentence for the self-styled godman.
Asaram also used to take medicines to increase sexual prowess, said prosecution witness Rahul K Sachar, an Asaram follower, in his deposition forming part of the 453-page judgement convicting the self-styled godman and his two accomplices for raping a 16-year-old girl nearly five years ago.
Sachar, who was close to Asaram and had access to his 'kutia' or abode, deposed that he had seen Asaram molesting girls in his ashrams in 2003 in Pushkar (Rajasthan), Bhiwani (Haryana) and Ahmedabad (Gujarat).
For this purpose, he used to give signals to three girls, who used to stay with him, by using a torch. On getting the 'signal', the girls used to take the targeted girls to his room in the kutia. He used to roam around the ashram with the three girls for selecting the targeted girls, said Sachar.
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One evening in Ahmedabad, Sachar said, he climbed the wall of the 'kutia' and saw the godman molesting a girl. He then wrote a letter questioning why he was doing this to girls and handed over the letter to the cook. Asaram read the letter but ignored it.
The follower sent a second letter to Asaram, but he chose not to respond to it, following which he forcefully entered the 'kutia' and asked why Bapu was quiet on his questions.
The response of Asaram was, 'Brahmgiani ko ye sab karne se paap nahi lagta.' (It's not a sin for a 'Brahmgyani' or a highly enlightened person to do so).
When he posed a second question on how a 'Bhramgyani' can have such desires, Asaram quietly went inside and asked his men and guards to throw the follower out of the 'kutia.'
Sachar had further told the court that Asaram also used to take medicines for increasing his sexual power and used to consume opium.
Codeword for opium was 'Panched Buti'.
The prosecution witness had also disclosed to the court that the three girls staying with Asaram were also involved in abortion of the self-styled godman's victims.
After leaving Asaram's company and his ashram, Sachar was also attacked in 2004, for which he had lodged a complaint with the police but no progress was ever made.
He was again attacked after giving a statement in the Asaram sexual assault case.
