‘I knew that the arrest would not be a simple one’

BENGALURU: The police team in plain clothes, posing as Asaram’s followers, had already been stationed inside the Indore ashram for some time. Now, upon knowing that the accused was heading towards his Indore ashram, I knew exactly what had to be done.The other team that had been put together under Additional DCP Satish Chandra Jangir especially to arrest the Baba, reached the Indore ashram and informed me that the Baba, his son, Narayan Sai, and his daughter were all present inside the ashram, as were hundreds of Asaram’s followers. I immediately knew that the arrest would not be a simple one, as the Baba, his family, and his followers would employ every means and method to obstruct the process of law.

What I heard next from my team after some time made me really angry. The man, obviously feeling safe inside his own ashram and in the midst of his diehard followers, was showing no respect for the law, or for the officers of the law, pretending that he was unaware of the police team’s presence. Rather, so smug was he, perhaps owing to the knowledge that his friends in high places and in the world of politics would never allow the police team from Jodhpur to arrest him from his own ashram, he even decided to hold a sermon for his followers as if to taunt the police and cock a snook at the system.

‘Sir, yeh toh Raas Leela rach raha hai idhar. [Sir, he is enacting Lord Krishna’s dance of love.] He is even dressed like Lord Krishna and has bedecked himself with flower garlands. He is singing and dancing with the congregation of his followers and doesn’t seem to be bothered about the fact that a police party is waiting here at his ashram to arrest him,’ one officer told me over the phone.

Further, I was told that the Baba was even giving interviews to news channels, telling them that nothing will happen to him, that the police will not arrest him. ‘He is almost laughing aloud when he is saying this, sir,’ said the officer.I asked Satish to hold the fort, to dissociate himself from other team members in front of Asaram and behave as if he, too, was Bapu’s devotee. I asked him to buy time by convincing the accused and his family to cooperate in the investigation, until we were certain that we could pick him up successfully or till such time that he agreed to follow our directions. I told Satish that I was trying to involve the Indore police in our mission, too.

Thereafter, I requested the Indore police that they deploy their force around Asaram’s ashram to ward off any untoward incident and lawlessness by the godman’s supporters when they would come to know that their guru was going to be arrested by our team. Committed as they were to maintain law and order in the city, as also to provide protection to our arrest team, the senior officer to whom I spoke for support said that their role would be limited to only outside the ashram. ‘The actual arrest of the Baba would have to be handled by you and your team,’ he added.

Yes, of course,’ I replied. ‘We will take care of the arrest of the accused. What we need assistance with is the security around the ashram and of the police team. We might also need your help after we arrest the accused and are taking him with us, because that is the time the tempers of Asaram’s followers would be at their height.’

Excerpted from Gunning for the Godman by Ajay Lamba (IPS) and Sanjeev Mathur, with permission from HarperCollins