Cops try to locate head of ashram that employed kids

The Samta Nagar police is trying to track down the head of an ashram at Kandivali (east) where it had conducted a raid recently and arrested two persons for allegedly employing children for mantra recitation and cooking.

Devendra Dubey and Bhagwandas Tiwari were arrested on Saturday following a raid at the ashram. Sweta Mali, the head of the ashram, is absconding.

Following the raid, the police had rescued as many as 28 persons from the ashram, including 12 minors. The minors were sent to the Dongri shelter home.

Police sources on Monday said officials took the statements of everyone who was above 18 years of age who had been rescued from the ashram. These victims told the police that they were recently brought to the ashram by their relatives from nearby villages after they came to know that the ashram paid youths good money for mantra recitation.

But when victims joined the ashram, both the accused forced them to recite mantras all day and if they refused to do it, they assaulted them, sources said. However, the police rejected possibilities of sexual abuse in the case.

“When the victims came to the ashram they had cellphones to stay in touch with their families, but the accused had snatched them away. We are trying to recover those mobiles,” said an official. The police is also trying to track down Mali and has asked for help from mobile companies to provide them information about the mobile tower location of Mali.

The accused, in their statements, have told the police that financial decisions in the ashram were taken by Mali alone and they were just working for her. They said they didn’t know how she had “trapped” others and how much money she had made through the ashram.

According to sources, in January this year, a boy above 18 years of age had complained to the police alleging assault by both the arrested accused. The police had subsequently arrested both but they were later released on bail and the police had not rescued anyone from the ashram at that time.

Meanwhile Dubey and Tiwari were produced in a local court on Monday and remanded to police custody for a day, police sources said.

The police on Monday also added one more section of the Indian Penal Code in the FIR against the duo for criminal breach of trust along with Section 370 (Trafficking of persons) and 125 (right to maintenance) of the Indian Penal Code.