RAJKOT (PTI): The first class magistrate of Dwarka has remanded Swami Keshavanand head of Sanatan Seva Mandal Ashram at Dwarka in Gujarat and his personal assistant Ravindra Chaube to 10 days judicial custody for allegedly raping minor girls on the Ashram premises.

A school principal Rakshaben Vayda has also been arrested in this connection from the famous pilgrim center in Jamnagar district police said. According to reports received here a mob pelted stones at the Swami and his assistant when they were being taken to the court.

The sex scandal came to light when a doctor who was helping the Swamis victims to undergo abortion along with two other saints of Dwarka filed complaints against him for harassing and foreign minor girls to satisfy his sexual lust.

Police swung into action when several girls and women who were victims of the Swami came forward to depose against him after being assured of protection.

Police raided the Ashram last Week and seized from a room of the Swami two blue film cassettes Share certificates and Indira Vikas Patras worth lakhs of rupees and bank account books. During interrogation the Swami confessed that he had raped over a hundred girls since 1977 police said adding they had sought assistance of their counterparts in Bihar to find out the past record of the Swami who hails from that state.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 1, 1994