Three ‘sadhvis’ of ashram gang-raped in Nawada district

NAWADA/PATNA: No arrest has been made so far in the alleged gang rape of three ‘sadhvis’ (female inmates) at Sant Kutir Ashram in Bahiyara village under the Govindpur police station area of the district on December 12, 2017. An SIT has been formed to probe the case.
Five persons had been made accused in the FIR lodged with Govindpur police station on January 4.They are Kalpanath Choudhary, Girija Shankar Choudhary, Shyam Chandra Choudhary alias Tapasyanand, Ajit Choudhary (all from Selra under the Lalganj PS area of Basti district in Uttar Pradesh) and Dilchand Patel of Mahuuadih under the Janjgir Champa PS area of the same district in Chhattisgarh. Girija allegedly raped all the three women.
The three women in their mid-20s were engaged in cooking at the ashram. One to UP, another from Nawada and the third one from Gaya.
Nawada SP Vikas Burman said on Friday the women were so scared that they fled the ashram after the incident. They returned to the village only on the assurance of some other inmates they were in touch with.
When asked about the delay in the initial investigation, the SP said the women were taken to the sadar hospital on January 9, but their medical examination could not be conducted due to some law & order problem on the campus. The doctors told the police to bring them next day and they were medically examined on January 10. Their statements were recorded in a Nawada court only on Thursday, he said.
When asked why it took the police five days after the FIR to get them medically examined, the SP told TOI that the women had refused to get medically examined that day and the police had to let them go. They came to Nawada on January 7 and informed the police the next day.
The SP further said during investigation police came to know about another FIR lodged with the Kotwali police station in Basti district against the ashram head Guru Paramhans Sacchidanand Maharaj on December 12 last year. The complainant in the case is the daughter of Dilchand, one of the accused in Nawada rape case. She alleged that Sacchidanand had raped her. A Nawada police team has left for Basti for further investigation.
The ashram has over 50 women inmates and around 15 men, who are called ‘sevadars’.
When the case was highlighted in the media, DIG (Magadh range) Vinay Kumar visited Nawada on Friday to probe the case.
The ashram was earlier located at Pithori Mor under the Akbarpur police station area. It was shifted from there five years ago following a similar case of sexual abuse with a female inmate and property dispute.
Both the male and female inmates hail from different states of India and move around to deliver religious discourses.