Three sadhvis were allegedly gangraped by five men in Sant Kutir Ashram, Govindpur in Bihar’s Nawada district. While an FIR has been lodged against all the five accused on January 4, all of them are currently absconding. The alleged incident took place on December 12, 2017. All the three women, scared for their lives, escaped to West Bengal after the incident but came back later to file a case with the police.
The FIR registered in the Govindpur police station names Kalpanath Choudhary, Girjashankar Choudhary, Tapasyanand, Ajit Choudhary and Dilchand Patel as the accused. All of them belong to Uttar Pradesh, the police told the Indian Express. All of the five accused are associated with the ashram.
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As per the report, three of the accused were sewadars (volunteers) at the ashram. Of the three sadhvis, two belong to UP while one belongs to Bihar’s Gaya. On the night of the incident, all the three women were cooking when Kalpanath knocked on their door. When he tried to drag the sadhvi who opened the door, the other two came running to save her. Tapasyanand and Dilchand Patel grabbed the other two and took them to a room where they raped the sadhvis. While the alleged crime took place, two other accused, Girjashankar and Ajit guarded the gates armed with pistols.
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Tapasyanand has, earlier, been accused of raping a sadhvi in Basti, Uttar Pradesh. He came to Sant Kutir Ashram, Govindpur (Nawada, Bihar) before police could arrest him, as per News 18. The ashram has been sealed and the investigations are on.
