Jodhpur: A prosecution witness in Asaram sexual assault case was stabbed by a man who claimed to be a devotee of the self-styled godman at a court premises in Jodhpur. The attack comes exactly a month after a key witness in a case, in which two sisters from Surat had accused Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of rape, was shot dead in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.
Witness Rahul Sachan, one of the 'sewadars' of Asaram, was in the court premises with police security when he was attacked, according to prosecution counsel P C Solanki. SHO of Udaimandir police station, Harji Ram, said that Sachan was attacked while he was boarding the police vehicle after coming out of the court.
"The moment he attempted to step into the police jeep, Satya Narayan rushed with a knife in hand and stabbed him in ribs," Harji Ram said.
Sachan was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital and the assailant, who also got injured in the melee, was arrested by the police. Sachan's condition is stated to be stable. Satya Narayan claimed that he was a devotee of Asaram.
"Sachan had turned a prosecution witness and was apprising the court about the modus operandi of Asaram," said Solanki.
On January 11, key prosecution witness Akhil Gupta, who was cook and personal aide of Asaram, was shot dead by unknown persons on his way home in Muzaffarnagar. Before Gupta, Amrut Prajapati, a former Asaram aide was shot dead in June last year in Gujarat. Gupta had given statement before a Gandhinagar Court under section 164 of CrPC along with some incriminating proof against Asaram.
Asaram is in jail since August 2013, for allegedly sexually assaulting a minor girl. Asaram was arrested after the 16-year-old girl lodged a police complaint in August 20 last year alleging that the self-styled godman sexually assaulted her at his ashram in Jodhpur. He was also booked, along with his son, for the alleged rape of two sisters in Surat in Gujarat.
The sisters had accused Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of raping them when they stayed at his ashrams in Ahmedabad and Surat between 1997 and 2006. Three more persons in the Surat case have survived attacks.
