The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered three cases against Baba Virendra Dev Dixit after underage girls were found to confined in his ashram in Rohini, Delhi. The girls were rescued from the ashram in December 2017.
Acting on the orders of the Delhi High Court, the agency has formed a three-member special investigation team headed by a Superintendent-level officer to probe the case.
According to the procedure, the CBI has taken over the probe into the three FIRs registered by the Delhi Police at Vijay Vihar police station in Rohini by re-registering them, CBI officials were quoted as saying.
CBI Probes Ashram Network
The CBI added that the searches in the case will not just be limited to his ashrams, but other premises across the country also. The agency is also scrutinising documents related to the case as well as bank details and digital evidence.
The two cases filed against Dixit are for rape and criminal intimidation, while one case is against unidentified persons for allegedly obstructing the work of a High Court- appointed committee which went to the ashram on 19 December 2017.
Taking note of the "seriousness and the sensitivity of the matter," a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar had asked the CBI Director to forthwith constitute a special investigation team (SIT) which will take charge of all the records and documents pertaining to the matter.
The court had asked the CBI to investigate the FIRs lodged in Delhi against the Rohini-based ashram and its founder-cum-spiritual head Dixit and the daily diary entries relating to complaints of missing girls, sexual offences, and even a case of suicide there.
‘200 Women, Girls Found in Illegal Confinement’
Around 200 women and girls were found to have been kept illegally confined in the ashram. The Delhi High Court had ordered the raids after an NGO, Foundation for Social Empowerment, alleged that the women were confined at the “university,” some for 14 years or more. The NGO also alleged that some of the girls and women had been raped.
The girls and women were kept confined in small areas, barricaded by grills, without sunlight or any privacy. Many of them were also found sick but with no idea about their ailments.
DCW Chief Swati Maliwal added that medicines and syringes and needles were found in large quantities, along with letters alleging sexual assault faced by the inmates. The committee also sought age verification of the inmates alleging that most of them, according to their appearance, seemed to be minors.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)
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