Who is Haryana’s self-styled godman called ‘Jalebi Baba’ convicted of raping his disciples

According to sources, Amarpuri was introduced to occult practices by another person following which he shut down his shop, bought a house and also built a temple with a cellar where he carried out his nefarious activities. He was first booked for rape in 2017 after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her at his residence. However, he soon secured bail in the case.

The police said that they had come to know about his misdeeds on July 19, 2018 when inspector Pardeep Kumar and his team were patrolling at Tohana’s Ambedkar Chowk. “A secret informer showed him an obscene video of Baba Billu Ram in his mobile phone. He disclosed that the godman had been physically assaulting the women and blackmailing them in the name of religion. A CD was also produced by him,” the prosecutors told the court.

During investigation, a victim gave a statement that the accused had forced her into having physical relations with him when she went for a treatment of ‘opri parai’ (evil spirit). The police recovered sedative tablets and VCR (video recorder) from Tohana.

After the incident, the Haryana Police arrested ‘Jalebi Baba’ and recovered 120 purported sex video clippings of him. The then Fatehabad women’s police cell incharge Bimla Devi had confirmed that the video clippings were recovered from the mobile phone of Amarpuri, who was a mahant at Baba Balak Nath Mandir in Tohana.

During investigation, it was revealed that the women used to approach Amarpuri to resolve their problems. “He is a tantrik (occultist), who used to offer drugs to the women. It was alleged that he used to sexually exploit them. Then he used to blackmail these women for money,” Bimla Devi had then said.

On January 10, the court of additional sessions judge Balwant Singh awarded seven years’ imprisonment to Baba Billu Ram under Section 376 C of the IPC, 14 years under Section 6 of the POCSO Act and five years imprisonment under section 67A of the IT Act. The jail terms will run simultaneously.

There were also allegations that before committing rape, Baba Billu Ram used a revolver to threaten the victims. In his order, judge Balwant Singh noted: “It is not disputed that the accused is the licence-holder of the weapon…The only question to be examined in this case is as to whether the said weapon was ever used for committing the offence or not. No doubt, it is so alleged by the victims. However, this version of the victims cannot be believed.”

The obscene photographs in the mobile phone and CD of the accused were played during trial.

The judge also said that there was no video showing that the accused was having a pistol in his hand. “It is pertinent here that the present case detected by the police on secret information and all the officials of the investigating team had performed appreciable work to collect the incriminatory evidence against the accused which has been proved on the file,” the judge said.

Advocate Sanjay Verma said that though the accused had faced allegations of raping six females, including a minor, the judge has convicted him for raping three, including a minor, on the basis of available evidence.

On the other hand, Jalebi Baba’s lawyer Gajender Pandey said that they would challenge the trial court’s order at the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

“Prima facie this case was lodged on the basis of a CD. There was no direct application from any of the six victims against the accused,” Pandey added.

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against the accused on the basis of a complaint from the Station House Officer of the police station concerned, he said.