A senior woman Indian Police Service officer posted in Surat has allegedly received an anonymous call threatening to kill her if she continues to search for self-styled godman Asaram Bapu's son Narayan Sai, wanted in a sexual assault case lodged against the father-son duo by two Surat-based sisters.
A first information report was registered in this regard on Sunday at Umrah police station. Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shobha Bhutade, who is monitoring the investigation of the complaint lodged against Sai at Jehangirpura police station, had received an anonymous call on October 16, Umrah police inspector C K Patel told PTI on Monday.
The caller threatened her "not to search for Sai otherwise they will shoot her," Patel said.
Patel said based on the call details, the number has been traced to one Jashrat Singh from neighbouring Madhya Pradesh.
"We are going there for investigation. Only after reaching there and conducting a thorough probe, can we ascertain the motive behind the call. The caller may not have used his own SIM card or phone for the call," he said.
Sai, who is absconding, has been accused by the younger of the two sisters, of repeated sexual assaults between 2002 and 2005 when she was living in their Surat ashram.
Sai's father Asaram, 72, was brought to Ahmedabad last week on a transit remand from a court in Jodhpur, where he was lodged in a jail since August in another sexual assault case. He is currently in police remand till October 22 in a sexual assault case, lodged by the elder of the two sisters.
Meanwhile, the police are looking for Lakshman Das Sevkani, in whose house Narayan Sai is reported to have stayed on the night of October 18-19. Sevkani's neighbour said, "He was a devotee of Asaram and his daughter was an inmate of Asaram's ashram in Surat."
Image: Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Shobha Bhutade
Photo ccourtesy: savarkundla.com
