2013 Asaram Bapu case: Rape victim's father cites threat to him, family

The father of the rape victim received a threat letter from a follower of self-styled godman, Asaram.

File photo

Shahjahanpur: The father of a rape victim in the infamous Asaram Bapu case has expressed threat to his life and that of his family by the self-styled godman's supporters. This comes a day after a girl's body was recovered from a car parked inside one of Asaram's ashrams in Gonda.

"A follower of Asaram left a threat letter at our house after hurling abuses at me on March 21. Derogatory language has been used in the letter and the person has also mentioned his address on it," the victim's father told PTI over phone on Saturday.

Following the threat, the police deployed two constables outside their house and since then, one of them was withdrawn from duty.

On the day the man received the threat, he said the only constable on duty was not present. "I have given a written complaint regarding this but the police have not done anything about it," the man claimed.

Superintendent of Police, Sitapur, S Anand said, "We have not received any report regarding any threat given to the victim or her family. Appropriate action will be taken if we receive such a complaint. However, I will also get the incident looked into at my level."

The victim, in this case, had accused Asaram of rape in 2013. On April 28, 2018, the court awarded life imprisonment to the self-styled godman. He is currently in a Rajasthan jail.

Meanwhile, the police are yet to arrest the accused in the case pertaining to the recovery of the 13-year-old girl's body from a car at Asaram's ashram on Friday.