Comment
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.