Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Rewa police have taken rape accused Mahant Sitaram Das alias Sitaram Tripathi, and Vinod Pandey on the two days remand on Thursday. The district administration also razed the house of the religious storyteller Mahant, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year–old college student in Rewa circuit house on Monday. The main accused, Mahant, was arrested from neighbouring Singrauli district's Waidhan town on Wednesday, two days after the incident. The police had earlier arrested Pandey, a history-sheeter, in whose name the circuit house room was booked.
Rape accused Mahant Sitaram Das alias Sitaram Tripathi | FP
SP, Rewa, Navneet Bhasin told Free Press that the Tripathi and Pandey were presented before the court. The court has sent them on two day police remand. The illegal construction of Tripathi at village Gudha was razed by the district administration in the presence of police force on the day, said the SP. Medical examination of the two accused was conducted before they were brought to the court. When Tripathi was brought to the court, a large number of people gathered there raised slogans -‘Baba Ko Fansi Do’ (hanged the Baba).
The two accused will be interrogated during the police remand. The two might reveal other crimes committed by them in the past. There are high chances of the two of committing sexual offences and suppressing the victims from filing any police complaint.
Vinod, a history-sheeter has more than half a dozen cases registered against him. During the remand, police would inquire about the connection between Mahant and the criminal.
The victim, a first-year college student, had approached the Civil Lines police along with her father on Tuesday and filed a complaint accusing the Mahant of sexual assault in room No-4 of Circuit House on Monday. Based on her complaint, the police registered a case against the seer and his associates under relevant sections of the IPC, including 376 (D) (gang rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) and provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Though the victim had accused only Mahant of sexual assault, but the case of gang rape was registered against four persons.
The mahant, a religious storyteller, had checked into circuit house on Monday. The room was booked in the name of history-sheeter Vinod Pandey, who had recently come out of jail.
Pandey had taken the girl to Mahant assuring that the latter would resolve her problems with his ‘supernatural powers’. The girl had not done well in exams and wanted mahant’s blessings.
Rewa district administration razed the house of the religious storyteller Mahant, a rape accused on Thursday |
Let cops from non-BJP ruled state probe the case, says Ajay Singh: Senior Congress leader Ajay Singh on Thursday said police personnel from a non-BJP ruled state should be allowed to probe the case where a religious storyteller allegedly raped a minor girl with assistance from his aides in a government circuit house in Rewa district.The former Leader of Opposition sought to know how a room (where the alleged crime took place) was booked in the name of a "habitual offender" in the government circuit house in Rewa.
Terming the incident as "shameful," Singh said because of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's tough stand, the main accused was arrested, but who will explain viral videos on social media suggesting "close relationship" between the mahant, officials and also some BJP leaders? Though chief minister has ordered a probe to find out how the circuit house room where the crime took place was allotted to the mahant, there is doubt on impartiality of the inquiry because of Tripathi's close relations with some BJP leaders and officials, Singh said in a statement.He said if the Chouhan government is really serious about getting the matter impartially investigated, then it should handover the probe to police or judicial officials from a non-BJP ruled state.
