Swami Kaushlendra Prapannachari Falahari Maharaj was arrested on Saturday after a 21-year-old law student accused him of rape.
According to media reports, the self-styled godman based in Rajasthan had earlier checked into a hospital after complaining of ‘high blood pressure’.
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“We have arrested the Baba under Section 376 (rape) and section 506 (criminal intimidation),” Rahul Prakash, Superintendent of Police Alwar said.
He said that Falahari Baba was taken to a government hospital for a medical check and later presented before a magistrate.
He was produced in the court of an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), which sent him to judicial custody till October 6, a police officialsaid.
He has been sent to jail in Alwar.
Rajasthan based self-styled godman had allegedly raped a 21-year-old law student from Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur.
According to media reports, the law student was raped by the baba on August 7 when she had gone to offer her first stipend as a mark of respect at his ashram in Alwar. The woman devotee lodged an FIR and state police took up the case on September 11.
As per the complaint, the woman and her parents were followers of Falahari Maharaj for the past several years, the police officer said.
On the baba’s recommendation, she did an internship under a senior lawyer in New Delhi for which she received a stipend of Rs 3,000. Her parents asked her to donate the stipend amount to the baba’s ashram in Alwar, the ASP said.
Following her parents’ advice, she went to the ashram on Raksha Bandhan last month and was asked to stay for the night by the baba.
During the night, the baba called the woman in his room and allegedly sexually assaulted her, the ASP said, quoting from the complaint.
The woman was allegedly threatened by the baba not to disclose the incident to anyone, she said.
Earlier, a case was registered against the accused under Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation), the police officer said.
(With agency inputs)
