Bhopal/Rewa (Madhya Pradesh): A 16-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a Mahant Sitaram alias Samarth Tripathi in a circuit house of Rewa district, the police said on Wednesday.
The incident, however, raised various questions on the district administration as the room was booked on the name of a history-sheeter Vinod Pandey, who was recently released from jail.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Rewa, Navneet Bhasin told Free Press that the police were investigating the case. Three police teams were formed and they were tracking the accused with the help of the cyber team.
The police team arrested two persons including the accused Vinod Pandey so far, Bhasin added.
“The team is investigating the allocation of the room to the notorious criminal. But first we are putting our efforts to arrest the absconding accused of the case”, SP Bhasin said.
He futher said that on Tuesday, the victim approached the police along with her father and filed a rape case against the Mahant. She told police that the incident happened in Annexe Bhawan Room No-4 in Circuit House on March 28.
“The accused Vinod brought the victim to Mahant stating that he can solve the problems of the girl through his supernatural powers. The girl is a student and she assumed that she was not able to do well on her exam. Therefore, she was seeking help to get good marks in exams. But she fell into the trap of Mahant”, the SP added.
The girl also told police that earlier an attempt was made to make her drink alcohol. The other three members helped Mahant to commit the crime. They locked the room from outside. She raised the alarm but none of the staff members of the circuit house reached the room to help the girl.
Bhasin further said that the accused Mahant Sitaram was a former member of Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas and a disciple of former MP Ramvilas Vedanti. He reached here to deliver a preach in Vedanti Maharaj's program which is going to start from April 1 and it will conclude on 10.
On the other hand as many as 45 cases were registered against the accused Vinod Pandey and he is having good connections in the political and religious gallery.
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