India’s list of sexual offenders and self-proclaimed godmen is almost of the same length. Pune police recently arrested a 75-year-old self-proclaimed godman and his son for sexually abusing, filming and blackmailing the disciples.
The father-son duo was arrested after a 70-year-old woman, his follower for the past 15 years, filed a complaint at the Samarth police station. The police said that the woman beat the father-son duo, Nandakumar alias Bhau Vasant Bhagwat, 75, and his son Abhijeet alias Charu, 38, before bringing them to the police station.
The complainant had known Nandakumar from 2005. She had started visiting his house twice in a week for prayers, the woman was going through some difficult time then. He used to also take care of Nandakumar.
In 2010, the father-son duo started claiming to be different avatars of god and started getting physical with their disciples. The woman said, "He then started hugging me and touching me inappropriately. Later, he asked me to chant hymns while being naked and also sexually abused me at his new home. His son, too, sexually abused me". She stopped visiting his house after that. "He then sent me an objectionable video of myself and called me over to settle some issues. However, this time, he asked his disciples to get physical with me and filmed a video," the complainant said.
The woman later told her friend about the abuse and the friend convinced her to file a complaint with the police.
Balkrishna Kadam, senior inspector, Samarth police station said, "The godman and his son forced women to get physical with them. Most of these women were either facing domestic issues or were not able to conceive. He later filmed them and blackmailed the victims."
The godman and his son were arrested under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori practices and black magic Act. They are in police custody until 11rth November.
