HIGHLIGHTS

• 1 Chhattisgarh woman accuses Rajasthan godman of rape.
• 2 Alwar’s Phalahari baba booked for raping 21-year-old
• 3 Phalahari baba raped the woman on August 7.

  AIPUR: A self-styled godman in Rajasthan was on Wednesday booked for alleged sexual exploitation of a 21-year-old woman from Bilaspur in Chhattisgarh, police said.

  In her complaint, the woman had alleged that the 70-year-old Kaushlendra Prapanacharya Phalahari Maharaj sexually exploited her at his ashram in Rajasthan’s Alwar on August 7.

  “Bilaspur police have sent the complaint here. We have registered a case of sexual exploitation and initiated investigation,” SHO Aravali police station, Hemraj Meena, said.

  He said that they visited the ashram of the accused from where it was found that he was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Alwar.

  He will be interrogated after permission from doctors, Mr Meena said.

   

  According to the police, the accused ‘Godman’ had been visiting the woman’s residence for quite some time.

  According to preliminary investigation, the woman had got an internship after completing her law studies. She visited the the ashram on August 7 to donate some money following which he allegedly sexually exploited her.

  “Her family is a disciple of Phalahari baba so they told her to give it to baba. When she went to meet him he told her to wait and then raped and threatened her. The parents came to us after the woman told them everything and we registered a case,” Archana Jha, DSP, Bilaspur said.

  The ‘Godman’ apparently has a sprawling ashram and several domestic and international devotees revere him, police said.