Asaram Bapu’s journey from a tea seller as a kid to a ‘godman’ with over 2 crore followers is nothing but exceptional.
Asaram Bapu’s journey from a tea seller as a kid to a ‘godman’ with over 2 crore followers is nothing but exceptional.(Photo: The Quint/Erum Gour)
  • 1. Asaram's Stint With 'Holiness'
  • 2. Political Clout and Fall Out
  • 3. The Rape Cases
  • 4. Witnesses: Threatened, Attacked, Killed
  • 5. Slow-Paced Trials and Bail Denials
Asaram Bapu’s journey from a tea seller as a kid to a ‘godman’ with over 2 crore followers is nothing but exceptional.
Explained
in 5 cards
Asaram Bapu & His ‘Unholy’ Crimes: Why’s the ‘Godman’ Behind Bars?
Explainers

Asaram Bapu, one of India’s most followed self-styled ‘godmen’, has always been controversy’s favourite child. Currently under trial for three rape cases – and in jail since 2013 – Asaram’s journey from a tea-seller as a kid to a baba with over 2 crore followers is nothing short of exceptional.

On Wednesday, 25 April, a Jodhpur court found him guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl at his ashram in the city, and sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Asaram and his son Narayan Sai are also accused in a double rape case of two sisters in Gujarat, involving repeated sexual assault and illegal confinement.

From allegedly threatening judges and victims’ families, to the murder of key witnesses, his followers have tried every trick in the book “without his knowledge” to save their Bapuji.

Here’s a look at Asaram’s life and the major developments in the cases in the last five years.

Also Read: Security Stepped up in Jodhpur Ahead of Asaram’s Rape Case Verdict

Asaram Bapu’s journey from a tea seller as a kid to a ‘godman’ with over 2 crore followers is nothing but exceptional.
EXPLAINED
in 5 cards

Asaram Bapu & His ‘Unholy’ Crimes: Why’s the ‘Godman’ Behind Bars?

  1. Asaram's Stint With 'Holiness'
  2. Political Clout and Fall Out
  3. The Rape Cases
  4. Witnesses: Threatened, Attacked, Killed
  5. Slow-Paced Trials and Bail Denials
+More

  • 1. Asaram's Stint With 'Holiness'

    Asaram was born Asumal Sirumalani in Sindh, now in Pakistan, in 1941. According to his biography, ‘Sant Asaram Bapuji Ki Jeevan Jhanki’, he left home multiple times between 15 and 23 years of age to spend time at different ashrams in search of spirituality.

    Guru Leelashahji Maharaj accepted him as his disciple in 1964 and named him Sant Shri Asaramji Maharaj. He was already married to Laxmi Devi by then, with whom he has a daughter, Bharati Devi, and a son, Narayan Sai.

    In 1972, he built a hut at Gujarat’s Motera village, on the banks of the Sabarmati. A year later, he converted it into an ashram, starting with just five to 10 followers.

    And today, the Sant Asaram Bapu Trust runs close to 400 ashrams, a few of these abroad, and at least one in each Indian state, barring Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Northeast.

    In many of these states, his trust has been accused of setting up the ashram on encroached land, according to The Indian Express.

    His ashrams have over 40 gurukuls, or residential schools to teach children.

    The trust runs a large printing press for 100-odd publications in a number of languages, and an Ayurveda unit.

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