Asaram Bapu, who is serving a life sentence for raping a minor girl, has been moved to an Ayurvedic hospital in Khopoli, Maharashtra, for treatment of a heart condition.
A senior police officer reported that Asaram (83) was brought to the heart care clinic at the Ayurvedic hospital in Khopoli, about 70 kilometers from Mumbai, on Tuesday night around 8 PM under police protection. He will receive treatment for his heart condition at the Madhavbaug Medical Facility for the next seven days.
Asaram was arrested in September 2013. On August 13, the Rajasthan High Court granted permission for Asaram to be treated at an Ayurvedic hospital in Maharashtra under police custody. Following this, he was flown to Mumbai and then transported to the hospital in Khopoli. A team from the Jodhpur police and two assistants accompanied him.
To ensure security, Raigad police personnel have been stationed at the hospital. The Rajasthan High Court had set conditions for his parole, including the presence of four police officers and two assistants with him. Earlier, both the High Court and the Supreme Court had rejected his requests to suspend his sentence on health grounds.
Asaram was arrested in Indore in 2013 for raping a teenage girl at his ashram and was sentenced in 2018 by a special POCSO court. In January 2023, a court in Gujarat found him guilty in a decade-old sexual abuse case involving a female follower and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The victim from Surat had accused Asaram of repeatedly raping her at his ashram in 2013.
