Cuttack, Oct. 25: Orissa High Court has held that the lower court may proceed in the "RM" case as there is a prima facie case of abduction, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy against self-styled spiritual guru Sarathi Baba.
The victim in the case has been referred to as RM in the high court order. RM, who was identified as the girl who had gone to Hyderabad with Santosh Roul alias Sarathi Baba, had alleged that she was forced to accompany him and stay in a hotel. She was a scheduled caste MBBS student of SCB Medical College in Cuttack when the incident happened.
The high court has also held that a prima facie case is also made out against Sarathi Baba for "inducing her to believe that she would be rendered as an object of divine displeasure if she failed to act according to his instructions".
Sarathi Baba has been in jail since his arrest on August 7 last year by the CID-Crime Branch following the surfacing of the sex scandal involving him based in an ashram at Barimula in Kendrapada.
The single-judge bench of Justice S.K. Sahoo said: "The fact of the case is neither a nightmare nor a fairy tale. The accusations unfold the reality of a much-hyped baba, who claimed to possess divine powers like Lord Krishna."
Justice Sahoo observed this yesterday while dismissing Sarathi Baba's petition challenging the trial court's order that had taken cognisance of a charge sheet filed against him by the CID-Crime Branch after registering a case based on RM's statement.
In her statement, RM had stated that Sarathi Baba put her in hypnotic state. She also stated that Sarathi Baba used to threaten her saying he was "god" and had the power to destroy the victim and her family members, which was why she went with him. "Such statement clearly makes the ingredients of abduction," Justice Sahoo observed in his 47-page order, a copy of which is in possession of The Telegraph.
Justice Sahoo further observed that materials available on record prima facie indicated that there was a criminal conspiracy to save Sarathi Baba from legal punishment and to save him from being defamed, the victim was forced to write a false report.
In the order, the high court also took note of RM's statement that while she was staying with Sarathi Baba in a room in Hotel Golkonda in Hyderabad from July 3 to 5, 2015, she was not allowed to go outside or talk to anyone nor was she allowed to keep contact with anybody after which Sarathi Baba took her to a Jaipur hotel.
"Since cognisance of offences punishable under sections 365 (abduction), 506 (criminal intimidation), 342 (wrongful restraint), 343 (wrongful constraint), 508 (inducing some one to believe about divine displeasure) and 120(B) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC has already been taken, the sub-divisional judicial magistrate, (Sadar), Cuttack, has to additionally take cognisance of offence under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and proceed against him (Sarathi Baba) in accordance with law," Justice Sahoo said in his order.
Justice Sahoo, however, modified the sub-divisional judicial magistrate's order, quashing cognisance of offences under section 384 (extortion) and 211 (intention to cause injury) of the IPC against Sarathi Baba.
