Jodhpur police team heads for Bhopal as Asaram tries to buy more time

A special team has been constituted for his interrogation and likely arrest.

4 min readAhmedabadAug 31, 2013 04:53 PM IST First published on: Aug 31, 2013 at 04:53 PM IST

The Jodhpur police dispatched a team to Bhopal as the deadline for Asaram Bapu to appear for interrogation ended on Friday.

Though the Jodhpur police refused to divulge if an arrest warrant had already been issued,Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajay Lamba said that there is a strong ground for Asarams arrest if he is unable to prove his innocence.

Many facts have been revealed during our investigation so far and we will verify that in his interrogation. A special team has been constituted for his interrogation and likely arrest. If he does not have any defence,there is strong ground for his arrest, Lamba told reporters. Arrest is a part of interrogation. Asaram is presently in Bhopal and if he leaves for another location,we will send our team there too.

The police received a fax from Asaram on Friday evening asking for more time to appear for interrogation citing ill health and death of a relative but the police have refused to grant the extension.

Lamba clarified that the Jodhpur police has not been soft on Asaram but gave him four days time to present himself for interrogation keeping his age in mind.

He is over 75 years old and keeping that in mind we gave him enough time. But his failure to present himself for interrogation and that without any concrete reason has prompted us to reach out to him on our own. We are in regular touch with the Madhya Pradesh police and will need their support in the following days too.

Meanwhile in Bhopal,closeted inside his ashram since Thursday,the septuagenarian claimed to be unwell and gave the Fridays morning flight to Delhi a miss,but minutes before the evening flight was to take off,his entourage sped towards the nearby airport only to be told that he was too late to board.

The brisk steps he took towards the security check after alighting his vehicle belied the claim that his health did not permit him to travel to meet the deadline set by the Jodhpur police.

The late-evening drama culminated into fisticuffs between media personnel and his supporters at the airport and left some equipment broken.

Reacting to Asarams oblique allegations that he was being targeted by UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and son Rahul Gandhi,Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday said,Asaram Bapu has been making baseless statements. He is himself hampering his credibility in public. He claims I have been in touch with him whereas I have not met him for over a decade. And then he is now alleging that mother and son are targeting him. This is rubbish. Religious and spiritual leaders are looked up to by society and they should be very careful in what they say.

Earlier on Friday,Asaram moved a 15-day transit anticipatory bail petition before the Gujarat High Court and withdrew it after the court expressed inclination to dismiss it.

Arguing for Asaram,his counsel Sudhir Nanavaty contended that Asaram wanted to avail whatever remedy was available from the Rajasthan High Court and that he sought protection against arrest for 15 days. However,the court was not inclined to allow the petition and Justice Desai told the petitioner that he could always approach the concerned court in Rajasthan. Subsequently Nanavaty withdrew the petition.