A Surat court Tuesday sentenced Narayan Sai, son of convicted self-styled godman Asaram, to life imprisonment in a rape case. Sai and four others were pronounced guilty on Friday.
Of the 10 accused in the case, the court has convicted five, including Ganga alias Dharmishta Mishra, Jamna alias Bhavika Patel, Hanuman alias Kaushal Thakur and Ramesh Malhotra.
While Ganga, Jamna and Hanuman are sentenced for ten years in jail, Ramesh has been sentenced for six months. 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.
Sai was booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, unnatural sex, molestation, wrongful confinement, unlawful assembly, rioting armed with a 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.
