Odisha man tortured wife for not surrendering to Baba!

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Bhubaneswar, Aug 19:

Trouble seems to be compounding for the beleaguered self-proclaimed Odisha Godman Srimad Sarathi Dev. A woman on Tuesday filed an FIR alleging that her husband tortured her for not going inside Baba’s room at the Barimula ashram in Kendrapara to seek his ‘blessings’.

In her FIR filed at Nikirai police station in Kendrapara, the woman complained that her husband had been torturing her for not taking initiation of Srimad Sarathi Dev in January this year. He had taken her to the Barimula ashram on their chouthi (the fourth night of marriage when marriage is consummated in Hindu families) to seek the blessings of the godman.

“My husband took me to the ashram in January this year. After seeking Sarathi Baba’s blessing, my husband went out of the room. After some time, some of the associates of Baba present there insisted that I go inside. I felt awkward and called up my husband immediately. But he too asked me to go to Baba’s room to seek his blessings. I protested and walked out of the ashram,” the woman said.

The newly-wed woman alleged that her husband has been subjecting her to physical and mental torture since the incident. Her in-laws are also hand in gloves with him, she added.

“The associates of Sarathi Baba put a garland around her neck and gave a saree to her. They asked her to take a bath and wear a locket with the Baba’s picture. As she is literate, she ran away from there and refused to take the initiation. Since then, my niece is being subjected to torture,” the uncle of the complainant said.

It may be mentioned that the woman got married on January 18 this year.

“I had filed a written complaint in this matter on August 12, but it was not accepted. I again went to the police station today to file my complaint,” she said.

Notably, her statement was recorded under Section 164 of Cr PC after the police personnel took her to the court of Kendrapara first-class judicial magistrate (JMFC).

Earlier in the day, the Crime Branch sleuths opened the locker of the adopted son of Sarathi, Satyam, with the State Bank of India, Kendrapara branch on College Road. The cops, however, did not get much from the locker.

On the other hand, the Crime Branch police scanned the CCTV footage retrieved from the Golconda Hotel in Hyderabad where Sarathi Baba and his woman companion are said to have stayed in the first week of Ju;y. The sleuths searched the room occupied by the duo and checked the hotel register during their investigation yesterday.