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Journalism of Courage
Years before 33-year-old Vinod Kashyap took to spirituality and started his ‘darbar’ at his two-storey home in Dwarka, the self-styled godman worked as a help at a nearby hospital — not out of passion but compulsion. After working there for four-five years, earning Rs 25,000 a month, Kashyap quit and decided to open his ashram. He claimed he was “blessed by god” to solve personal and health problems. His following increased steadily, with around 400 “distressed” people flocking to his house throughout the week to seek his blessings.
On Tuesday, Kashyap, who was accused of subjecting several of his devotees to sexual assault at his ashram and blackmailing them into remaining silent, was arrested.
Inside a small room at his 900 sqft house, Kashyap used to sit on a platform while his followers sat on a rug. With a camera person in the corner, another person deputed at the entrance to let devotees in, and another distributing prasad, the darbar was held on Saturdays and Tuesdays for five to six hours.
Kashyap also has a YouTube channel with more than 900 videos and 34.5k followers.
According to DCP (Dwarka) Harsha Vardhan, Kashyap has been arrested in two cases of sexual assault based on complaints by two women devotees at his darbar.
“He was running the place in (a Dwarka village) and also runs a YouTube channel with a large following. In both cases, it is alleged he called the women devotees on the pretext of helping them with problems and told them that ‘guru seva’ must be done. He then sexually assaulted the women and threatened them not to disclose the incident,” added the DCP.
Kashyap is currently on a three-day custody remand. One of the women has given her statement before a magistrate, reiterating the allegations against Kashyap, while the other sought a day in view of ill health.
In the FIRs, both women made similar allegations in September. One of them alleged, “… I live with my husband and two children… in order to ensure peace and good health for my family, I reached the… darbar of Kashyap where I was told there will be many problems in my house if I don’t abide by certain solutions told to me by Kashyap. My husband and I did everything; Kashyap then told us we had to do ‘Gurudharan’ for which he started demanding Rs 5 lakh from me… I refused… he then called me on September 2 to do seva… Guruji (Kashyap) was sitting in his room and he called me inside. He started touching me inappropriately to which I protested. He then gave me prasad which made me unconscious, following which he raped me.”
One of the victims told The Indian Express, “Whatever I have told police is the absolute truth… all I want is justice.”
Kashyap got married in 2015 and has three children.
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