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Main witness in Asaram case succumbs to bullet injuries

Amrut Prajapati, a key witness in the sexual assault case involving self-styled guru Asaram, succumbed to his bullet injuries at his home in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.

Prajapati, an ayuvedic doctor who served as the controversial spiritual guru’s personal physician for several years but had turned against him later, was shot in the neck and chin from close range by a patient at his clinic in Rajkot on May 23.

His family members suspected the hand of Asaram’s aides in the firing incident but the police have not arrested a single person even after 18 days.

Prajapati had been raising his voice against Asaram for many years after quitting his ashram 15 years ago. He had even spilled the beans in the Surat sisters rape case saying how he had often caught the preacher in compromising positions with woman devotees.

Three key witnesses of the rape cases were attacked in Surat one month ago in different incidents. After the arrest of eight men, the Surat police revealed that all of them were devotees of Asaram and his son Narayan Sai, also a preacher, and wanted to eliminate all the key witnesses to weaken the case. Both Asaram and Sai are behind bars after they were accused of rape on two sisters in their Ahmedabad and Surat ashrams some 17 years ago.

The older of the two sisters had levelled allegations that Asaram had repeatedly sexually assaulted her while she was living in the Ahmedabad ashram.

The younger sister had alleged that Sai had repeatedly physically assaulted her when she was living in his Surat ashram.

mahesh@khaleejtimes.com