Self-styled Hindu spiritual guru Asaram Bapu has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the second time for raping another female devotee.
Asaram Bapu, 81, from Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, is currently serving a life sentence in another rape case, having earlier been found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl in 2018.
The latest case is from 2013 when a female devotee accused Asaram Bapu of sexual harassment. Asaram raped the female devotee several times between 2001 and 2006 when she lived in an ashram in Ahmedabad.
The woman alleged that Asaram raped her several times at his ashram in Motera city and kept her imprisoned there for five years from where she later escaped.
Asaram was first arrested in 2013 when a case was registered against him by one of his followers for raping his 16-year-old daughter.
Police said he called the victim to his room in his ashram in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur city on the pretext of “treatment” and then raped her.
According to the police, Guru forced the victim to perform sexual acts with him and threatened to kill her family if they spoke about the incident.
In 2019, Asaram’s son Narayan Sai was sentenced to life imprisonment for raping the same girl’s younger sister.
Asaram Bapu is known for his yoga and meditation teachings and has millions of followers and hundreds of ashrams worldwide. Ahead of the court verdict in Gujarat on Tuesday, authorities had tightened security amid fears of riots by the guru’s supporters.