Narayan Sai rape case: Key witness against Asaram’s son shot at
The fifth attack: Mahendra Chawla, an insurance advisor and a former personal assistant to Asaram, was attacked by two masked assailants in Sanauli, Panipat district in Haryana.
Unidentified assailants on Wednesday allegedly shot at another key witness in the rape case against Narayan Sai, son of jailed godman Asaram, in Haryana’s Panipat district.
Mahendra Chawla, an insurance advisor and a former personal assistant to Asaram, was shot at by two masked assailants in Sanauli village, Panipat. Following a surgery that removed two bullets from his body, Chawla is stable, sources said.
The charge sheet filed by the Ahmedabad police in a Gandhinagar court names 60 witnesses: Chawla was witness number 48. Chawla had recorded his statement in the rape case at the Gandhinagar court under CrPc 164. Sai is lodged in a Surat jail since his arrest in December 2013 in connection with this case.
Chawla was among the three key witnesses in the rape case against the father-son duo, the other two being Akhilesh Gupta and Amrut Prajapati, who were earlier shot dead.
In his earlier statement to the Ahmedabad police, Chawla had elaborated on the unlawful activities at Asaram’s ashrams and the manner in which he and his son treated women inmates. He had also deposed before Justice D K Trivedi Commission, set up to probe the shady dealings in Asaram’s ashrams, stating that Asaram and his son indulged in unnatural sex, and performed black magic. The commission was instituted after the mysterious deaths of two cousins in 2008, who lived in Motera ashram.
PC Thakur, Gujarat DGP, said, “We have stepped up security for the victims and witnesses in the case.” Ahmedabad Mirror Bureau
PREVIOUS ATTACKS
♦ March 16, 2014: Dinesh Bhavchandani, 39, who had given a statement against Asaram in the rape case against the godman, had acid flung on him in Surat.
♦ June 10, 2014: Asaram's former aide and Ayurveda doctor Amrut Prajapati died in Ahmedabad after being shot at on May 23, 2014. Prajapati had spoken out against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai.
♦ January 11, 2015: Akhil Gupta, 35, cook and personal aide of Asarm and a witness in the rape case, was shot dead in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
♦ February 13: Rahul K Sachan, a witness in the rape case, was seriously injured after being stabbed by a supporter of the godman in Jodhpur after Sachan was coming out after testifying in court.
Unidentified assailants on Wednesday allegedly shot at another key witness in the rape case against Narayan Sai, son of jailed godman Asaram, in Haryana’s Panipat district.
Mahendra Chawla, an insurance advisor and a former personal assistant to Asaram, was shot at by two masked assailants in Sanauli village, Panipat. Following a surgery that removed two bullets from his body, Chawla is stable, sources said.
Chawla, a regular at Asaram’s Motera ashram in Ahmedabad between 1995 and 1998 and a boarder in his Virar ashram between May 1998 and August 2005, had testified against the father-son duo in the rape complaint lodged by two Surat-based sisters.
The charge sheet filed by the Ahmedabad police in a Gandhinagar court names 60 witnesses: Chawla was witness number 48. Chawla had recorded his statement in the rape case at the Gandhinagar court under CrPc 164. Sai is lodged in a Surat jail since his arrest in December 2013 in connection with this case.
Chawla was among the three key witnesses in the rape case against the father-son duo, the other two being Akhilesh Gupta and Amrut Prajapati, who were earlier shot dead.
In his earlier statement to the Ahmedabad police, Chawla had elaborated on the unlawful activities at Asaram’s ashrams and the manner in which he and his son treated women inmates. He had also deposed before Justice D K Trivedi Commission, set up to probe the shady dealings in Asaram’s ashrams, stating that Asaram and his son indulged in unnatural sex, and performed black magic. The commission was instituted after the mysterious deaths of two cousins in 2008, who lived in Motera ashram.
PC Thakur, Gujarat DGP, said, “We have stepped up security for the victims and witnesses in the case.” Ahmedabad Mirror Bureau
PREVIOUS ATTACKS
♦ March 16, 2014: Dinesh Bhavchandani, 39, who had given a statement against Asaram in the rape case against the godman, had acid flung on him in Surat.
♦ June 10, 2014: Asaram's former aide and Ayurveda doctor Amrut Prajapati died in Ahmedabad after being shot at on May 23, 2014. Prajapati had spoken out against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai.
♦ January 11, 2015: Akhil Gupta, 35, cook and personal aide of Asarm and a witness in the rape case, was shot dead in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
♦ February 13: Rahul K Sachan, a witness in the rape case, was seriously injured after being stabbed by a supporter of the godman in Jodhpur after Sachan was coming out after testifying in court.
