Asaram Bapu's Jodhpur ashram wears a deserted look

JODHPUR: A fading white coloured building stands in the midst of a barren farm in Manai, located about 38-km from Jodhpur city. The nondescript building catapult to national prominence after a 16-year-old girl alleged she was raped by godman Asaram here on the intervening nights of August 15 and 16, 2013.
The ashram, which now bears a deserted look, once doubled up as a guesthouse for Asaram where gleeful “sadhaks” (devotees) waited for hours to catch a glimpse of their guru. The police chargesheet says this aashram was the “crime scene”, which investigators swarmed during the initials days of the probe.

Sources told TOI that Asaram had returned to Manai after delivering a religious sermon to a gathering in city’s Gandhi Maidan and one of his aides had allegedly asked the girl and her parents to visit the spiritual guru in Manai. The family arrived here on August 14, 2013.

Nearly five years after the alleged crime took place here, the intrigue still hangs in air.

Vishnu Dewada, whose family reportedly donated the house to Bapu, is an ardent devotee of Asaram. According to him, people continue to flock this place despite Asaram being behind the bars. Locals, however, struggle to recall any grand religious gathering here in past five years. “The ashram is locked for most time; rarely a major function has been seen here,” said Mahendra, who lives in a nearby village.

Officials told TOI that the building was used as a “retreat” for Asaram. “He was not a frequent visitor to this ashram, which was basically a restroom,” said an official who was part of the rape investigation.

The main gate to the ashram is locked; the white structure itself is covered with rising trees circling it and the barbed wire around the property has a clear sign saying not everybody is allowed in. Dewada emphatically denies entry to anyone.

“We don’t allow anybody to enter the ashram. If one has to go inside, one has to ask us,” he said.

Asaram has one more ashram in Jodhpur, located at Pal road. It is said to be the centre of all Asaram related activities but it too is now deserted as the police have asked his followers to vacate the place.