Court rejects Asaram Bapu's son Narayan Sai's bail plea in rape case

Surat: A local court today rejected the bail plea of self-styled godman Asaram’s son Narayan Sai in connection with in an alleged rape case filed against him. Joint District and Additional City Sessions Judge B A Joshi rejected the plea, observing that an offence of rape is made out prima facie against the accused. The Surat court also observed that the accused (Sai) can tamper with the evidence and harm the witnesses, if he is released on regular bail at present. Earlier this month, Sai had moved the bail plea and sought his release on the ground that the police had already filed the charge sheet and alleged that the rape case against him was filed with malafide intention. “The state police has filed the charge sheet in the month of March which indicates that the probe in the rape case has been completed,” Sai submitted in the bail plea. Sai had further said in the regular bail plea that the complaint of rape was filed against him after a time-span of 11 years with malafide intentions. “There is nothing substantial in the facts of the case, so the applicant (Sai) should be released on the regular bail,” the bail plea said. [caption id=“attachment_1203269” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narayan Sai in this file photo. PTI[/caption] However, the court has not granted the submission of Sai and sent him to judicial custody after rejecting his bail. The police had charge sheeted Sai with the charges of rape under section 376, unnatural sex under section 377 and criminal conspiracy under sections 120(b)of IPC. He was also booked under IPC sections 346 for wrongful confinement of the victim, 356 for physical assault, 506 for criminal intimidation, 148 for attempting deadly attack and 153 for rioting. Two sisters had lodged complaints against Sai and his father Asaram of rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges. In her complaint, the younger of the two had accused Sai of repeated sexual assault between 2002 and 2005 when she was living at the Surat ashram managed by the father-son duo. The elder sister had filed a rape complaint against Asaram and a separate case is going on against him in the Gandhinagar court. PTI