Surat police arrest Narayan Sai’s aide from Asaram’s Delhi ashram

Police sources said that a team of the Gujarat police had been camping in Delhi for the past few days in search of Sai who is wanted in connection with the sexual assault case against his father and him registered by two sisters in Surat. Police on Friday conducted raids across Rohini,Najafgarh,Jafarpur Kalan and on Ridge Road from where Dharmesh was finally arrested.

Police sources said that Sai had reportedly come to Delhi on October 9 and had contacted Dharmesh on phone. Police told court that Dharmesh did not inform the police of this development despite knowing that it was on the lookout for Sai. This,police cited,was providing Sai shelter and therefore was a criminal act. Later,Dharmesh,sources said,also prepared an affidavit seeking anticipatory bail for Sai. However,investigators found that the affidavit was a fake. This,police said,amounted to charges of conspiracy.

According to police sources,the team from Surat landed in the national capital after tracing Sai’s location to the city while intercepting his mobile phone locations. Police,however,could not make any headway in tracing the whereabouts of Sai. There are apprehensions that he might have slipped into Haryana from Delhi. Police said that Sai had been changing his location frequently and has so far managed to change 17 SIM cards and mobile phones.

Police also met advocate and notary,Laxmi Narayan Arora from,who had signed on the notarised document for Sai’s anticipatory bail application,which was later put before the Surat additional sessions court. The police officials found that Arora’s notary register had mysteriously gone missing from his office,and that Sai was not present when his notary documents were being prepared.

Surat police said Dharmesh played an important role in mediating between Sai and notary Arora. He had apparently taken Arora’s notary register from his office,along with Arora’s son — Tarun — to get the anticipatory bail application signed when Arora was undergoing treatment at AIIMS. The documents were signed on October 10 when Sai was not present.

The sexual assault complaint against Asaram and Sai was filed at Jehangirpura Police Station in Surat. Surat Police had recently registered two complaints — one against Asaram,the other against Sai – of rape,sexual assault,illegal confinement and other charges as alleged by the two sisters. The younger of the two sisters has filed the complaint against Sai,accusing him of repeated sexual assault between 2002 and 2005,when she was living at the Surat ashram.