Ex-Asaram follower claims members practise black magic

Chavla stated before the commission that during his association with the ashram,he had seen ashram people,including the son of Asaram Bapu,Narayan Sai,thrice practising tantrik vidhya in different parts of the country.

The commission,which among other things has been appointed to look into the mysterious circumstances under which two minor boys,Deepak and Abhishek Vaghela,were found dead in the Sabarmati riverbed after they went missing from the ashram-run gurukul in July last year. Some body parts of the two children were missing when the bodies were recovered. Their parents have been alleging that the children had fallen prey to the black magic practised by somebody from the ashram.

Shamshad Pathan,lawyer of Praful Vaghela who is father of one of the deceased,said Chavla was summoned by the commission as a witness. He said Chavla was a follower of Asaram Ashram since 1998 and had worked as personal assistant of Narayan Sai from 2001 to 2005. According to Pathan,in his deposition,Chavla has stated that he had seen Narayan practising tantrik vidhya at least twice in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. Chavla said that in MP,he had seen Narayan practicing black magic on a dead child’s body. He also claimed seening one of the Asaram followers,Gautam Patel,in Banaskantha practicing it,and that Patel had told him he was doing it at the behest of Narayan.

Pathan said Chavla has submitted a 15-page document containing various ‘mantras’ to perform black magic. He reportedly told the commission that the documents were given to him by Narayan to perform tantrik vidhya.