28 August,2024 12:56 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Asaram Bapu. File Photo
Self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, who is serving a life sentence in Jodhpur Central Jail for raping a minor, has been brought to a medical facility at Khopoli in Maharashtra's Raigad district for treatment of a heart-related ailment, officials said on Wednesday, reported news agency PTI.
Asaram, 83, who was arrested in September 2013, was brought to the multidisciplinary cardiac care clinic of an Ayurvedic hospital in Khopoli, located 70 km from Mumbai, around 8 pm on Tuesday with full police protection, a senior police official said, reported PTI.
He will undergo treatment for some heart-related ailment at the medical facility for the next seven days, he said, reported PTI.
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On August 13, the Rajasthan High Court had allowed him to undergo treatment at an Ayurvedic hospital in Maharashtra under police custody, reported PTI.
Accordingly, he was taken to Mumbai by flight, accompanied by a team of Jodhpur Police and two attendants.
On his arrival at the Mumbai airport, Asaram Bapu was taken to the hospital in Khopoli, the official said, reported PTI.
Raigad police personnel have been deployed at the hospital as part of security, he said.
While granting the parole to Asaram Bapu, the Rajasthan High Court had laid certain conditions, which included that four policemen would be travelling with him. He was also allowed to have two attendants with him, reported PTI.
Asaram Bapu's pleas for suspension of sentence on health grounds were earlier rejected by the high court and the Supreme Court.
In March this year, the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea by self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, serving life term in a rape case, for suspension of the sentence because of his deteriorating health. A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta asked senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi to approach the Rajasthan High Court for relief after he said Asaram was willing to accept the public prosecutor's suggestion that he could undergo treatment.
He was arrested in Indore for allegedly raping a teenage girl in his ashram in 2013 and was convicted by a special POCSO court in 2018, reported PTI.
A Gujarat court had, in January 2023, convicted him in a decade-old sexual assault case involving a woman disciple and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The victim, a Surat-based woman, had accused him of repeatedly raping her at his ashram in 2013.
(With inputs from PTI)
