40 girls rescued from Delhi Rohini ashram of 'godman' obsessed with having 16,000 women companions
Authorities rescued 40 girls from Virendra Dev Dikshit's Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya ashram in Rohini, Delhi where the 'godman' is believed to have illegally confined minors.
In Short
- Authorities rescue 40 girls from Delhi's Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya.
- Raids launched over complaints of girls being illegally confined and sexually assaulted.
- Case under CBI.
A team of senior officials in Delhi, including Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal, last evening, rescued as many as 40 girls from an ashram in the national capital's Rohini area, news agency ANI reported today.
The Rohini ashram is run by a self-styled godman called Virendra Dev Dikshit, a 'baba' believed to be obsessed with the idea of having 16,000 women with him.
Why 16,000? Because, according to some beliefs, that is the number of wives that lord Krishna had.
Mail Today had first reported about the raids on Rohini's Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya ashram earlier this week. With authorities then scouring a maze of rooms in search of victims and other evidence, the exact number of girls being held at the ashram wasn't immediately known.
As of last updating this report, it wasn't clear who was part of the team that rescued the 40 girls from the Rohini ashram last night.
The Delhi High Court, earlier this week, had asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to look into a bunch of complaints filed by a group of parents alleging that Virendra Dev Dikshit was sexually exploiting a number of minor girls and women being held at the Rohini ashram.
Authorities first raided Dikshit's Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya on Tuesday when they found a massive stock of what seemed to be medicines and syringes was found, Mail Today reported. Following the raids, it was discovered that the girls at the Rohini ashram were housed in inhumane conditions.
The girls were not permitted to meet their relatives or friends and were confined to cramped spaces with no sunlight, with metal grills blocking their exit. Swati Maliwal had said earlier this week that the girls appeared to be minors and called for an age-verification test, Mail Today reported.
The Mail Today report reveals a chilling modus operandi allegedly used by Virendra Dev Dikshit to get parents to send girls to his ashram. The parents claim Dikshit made them sign a stamp paper stating they willingly handed over their daughter(s) to him.
Once in his ashram, the girls would allegedly be sexually assaulted. And once they turned 18, Dikshit would allegedly make them sign a paper that said they were willingly staying with him, says the Mail Today report.
Allegations also are that the parents of the girls were asked to keep sending donations in large amounts to the Rohini ashram, purportedly for the upkeep of their daughters.
WATCH | Delhi: 40 girls rescued from self-styled baba's ashram