Followers protest arrest of Asaram Bapu

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Sep 2, 2013 at 10:06 PM Updated On : Sep 3, 2013 at 4:14 PM

OST Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Sept 2:

Protesting against the arrest of spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, who was remanded to 14-day judicial custody by a court in Jodhpur in Rajasthan, his followers in the capital city here took to the streets on Monday demanding his immediate release.

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Around 1000 followers under the banner of Yoga Vedanta Samiti blocked the National Highway-5 near Palasuni while protesting the arrest and remand of Asaram.

Accusing the media and the police of tarnishing the image of their guru, the irate followers described the action against him as grossly unfortunate. They also criticised the political leaders for trying to gain political mileage over the issue.

Vehicular traffic along the NH-5 was disrupted for about an hour due to the blockade. The blockade was withdrawn after a team of senior police officials led by city DCP Nitinjit Singh rushed to the spot and pacified the agitators.

It may be mentioned that the 72-year-old spiritual guru was arrested by the Jodhpur police from his ashram at Indore in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday on the charge of sexual assault on a 16-year-old girl at his ashram. He was later brought to Jodhpur where a local court on Monday remanded him to the judicial custody for 14 days.