Indian police book Hindu spiritual guru for raping woman devotee

Indian police have booked a Hindu spiritual guru on charges of raping a 21-year-old woman devotee inside his religious compound near the national capital.

A senior police official Thursday said that a case has been registered against 70-year-old self-styled godman Kaushlendra Prapanacharya Phalahari Maharaj after the woman lodged a police complaint in her homestate of Chhattisgarh in eastern India against him.

In her complaint, the woman has alleged the spiritual guru raped her when she visited his ashram (religious residential compound) at Alwar in the western state of Rajasthan last month.

"Police in Chhattisgarh have sent the complaint to us. Based on the complaint, we have registered a case of sexual exploitation and initiated investigation," the officer-in-charge pf Aravali police station in Alwar, Hemraj Meena, told the media.

However, police have not been able to question or arrest the godman as he is currently undergoing treatment at a private hospital. "We will question him after getting permission from doctors," Meena said.

The case comes close on the heels of another self-styled godman, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, being sentenced to 20 years in jail for raping two of her women devotees by a special court that is also trying him in two murder cases.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)