36 behind the cross

Swaminarayan Sadhu held for 15-year-old girl’s rape TNN | Nov 29, 2018, 01.22 PM IST Printed from RAJKOT: A Swaminarayan sect monk was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly raping a 15-year-old girl in Rojid village of Barwala taluka in Botad district. Police said the accused Rushiprasad Dasji (47) had raped her several times at his house where she used to work as a maid three months ago. “After the sexual assaults, the girl left the job. However, Dasji continued to stalk her, asking her to resume her work. On Tuesday, Dasji again stalked her and asked her to come to his house. Tired of this harassment, she narrated the ordeal her parents, who took her to police station and lodged a complaint against Dasji,” said an official from Barwala police station. During interrogation, Dasji told police that he was sacked from a prominent Swaminarayan gaadi 12 years ago and came to Rojid village. Here, he established his own ashram under the name Shri Swaminarayan Ashram, Shri Chhapaiyapuram Trust....

The Bochasanwasi Shree Aksharpurushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS), a powerful Gujarat-based sect with followers world over which practises celibacy, ran into some trouble when two of its former sadhus accused the top brass of the sect of sexual assault. The former sadhus, called Sanjay Shah and Rakesh Bhavsar before their initiation, submitted applications at the Ahmedabad police control room Tuesday evening, accusing the now ailing Pramukh Swami, who heads BAPS, and four other top swamis, of alleged assault dating back to the 1970s when they were students at the gurukul. The allegations have been denied by the sect's spokespersons. The Ahmedabad city police transferred the applications to Ahmedabad district police considering the scene of the alleged crime which was claimed to be Sarangpur village. The district police, however, transferred the application to the new district Botad, which now covers Sarangpur village, under the Barwala police station. However, till late Wedne...

Ahmedabad, Feb 15: A priest belonging to Swaminarayan religious sect was today arrested in Gujarat's Junagadh city along with three others following a video expose of sleaze involving sadhus, in a fallout of group rivalry in the sect. "The priest, Bhaktiswarup and three touts were arrested by the Crime Branch late last night under Prevention of Immoral Trafficking Act," D G Vanzara, Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime), told reporters here today. "The priest has been arrested for women trafficking, while the three accused -- Mansuk Patel alias Mansuk Bhagat, Banubhai Patel alias Banu Bhagat and Takkarsinh Patel – were arrested for making videos of the sexual act and distributing it in form of CDs," Vanzara said. "Several books containing nude photographs of women, a copy of Vatsayana's Kamasutra, condoms, contraceptive pills and sleazy literature were also recovered during the raid at Bhaktiswarup's residence at Junagadh," he added. The...

Ahmedabad, Feb. 15:  After murder in the temple, sex. Sadhus caught on sex CD A sadhu of the famous Junagadh Swaminarayan temple was arrested today for links to an alleged sex scandal as holy men continued to have a bad time, from Tamil Nadu in the south to Gujarat in the west. The additional police commissioner (crime branch), D.G. Vanzara, said the arrest of Bhakti Swaroop and three touts ?could be just the tip of an iceberg?. He added that the touts would take ?married women? to the sadhus for sex. The police believe that more sadhus of the Vadtal sect ? there are several among Swaminarayan devotees ? could get sucked into the scandal. The Vadtal sect is unconnected to the Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar that had become the target of a terrorist attack. On January 29, the crime branch received an anonymous letter from a devotee who said a CD showing four sadhus engaging in sex with women was being sold. The police identified the quartet and one of them was ...

Four held in Swaminarayan sect sex scandal NDTV News (Ahmedabad)/February 15, 2005  Gujarat police's crime branch has arrested four people in the Swaminarayan Sect's Varthal Seat sex scandal. Nearly six months ago, CDs shocked Gujarat showing sadhus from the Swaminarayan sect's Varthal seat having sex with some women. Sadhu arrested On Tuesday, the Gujarat police's crime branch has arrested Swami Bhaktaswaroop, who was one of the sadhus exposed in the sex CDs. Three devotees who had organised the sting operation have also been arrested. They had filmed the CDs to embarrass the sadhus to defeat them in the race to the sub-sect's top post. "These people organised the women who were lured with money and it's through them that they sent the cameras to the sadhus," said D G Vanjara, ACP, Crime Branch, Ahmedabad. Hunt on for seven others But even as the police went to arrest the Junagadh-based sadhu, they found in his possession pornograph...

Priest with Swaminarayan sect held for raping woman TNN | Oct 25, 2018, 10.31 AM IST Printed from SURAT: Priest associated with the Swaminarayan sect, was arrested by Katargam police on Wednesday for allegedly raping a 20-year-old woman. The accused Karan Swami (24) had allegedly raped the woman twice in his quarters within the temple premises in Dabholi area over the past 15 days. Police arrested Swami after the survivor identified him before the police. She had not named the accused at the time of registering her complaint as she did not know his name. Before taking diksha (attaining sainthood) eight years ago the accused was known as Nikunj Sawani. The survivor had survivor approached police on late Tuesday evening after she was raped allegedly by the accused for the second time after assuring financial help for her ailing mother. Police investigation revealed that the survivor’s mother had suffered injury on her hand and needed treatment. Her father too was suffering from s...