CLOAKED IN CONTROVERSY

The CBI court on Saturday ordered that charges be framed against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Baba Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case. The Dera chief has been charged with sexually assaulting women followers of the Dera at the sect's Sirsa-based headquarters. He has been booked under Sections 376 and 506 of the IPC. The CBI is also investigating two more charges against him for his alleged involvement in the murder conspiracy against Dera manager Ranjit Singh and a Sirsa-based journalist, Ram Chander Chatterpatti. Last year, he had raked up a controversy after he dressed like Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th Guru of the Sikhs. Unsurprisingly then, in our country where religion is interwoven in every aspect of social life, godmen and controversies are never very far apart:

July 22, 2008

• The Supreme Court gives life imprisonment to self-proclaimed godman Swami Shraddananda, accused of burying his wife Shakereh alive in their Bangalore house to usurp her massive property.

July 5, 2008

• Asaram Bapu Ashram, located on the banks of the Sabarmati in Ahmedabad, is visited by devotees for prayers, yoga and meditation. However, there has been little peace here since the mysterious death of two boys studying in the ashram's gurukul. The boys went missing on July 4. Their mutilated bodies were recovered from the riverbed on July 5. With allegations of black magic doing the rounds, the city saw massive protests and demands of a CBI probe.

2005

• Swami Sadachari, who mingled with politicians, was arrested in New Delhi for running a brothel. The once-influential godman, who is believed to have performed rituals at a prime minister's residence, was nabbed only when he fell out of favour with those in power.

November 11, 2004

• Sri Jayendra Saraswathi Swamigal, the 69th Shankaracharya of the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, was arrested and charged with being a conspirator in the murder of a temple manager, Sankararaman. On October 26, 2005, the Supreme Court transferred the case from Tamil Nadu to Pondicherry.

... contd.

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