Police rescue 2 more girls from Delhi Godman’s Ashram

Police rescue 2 more girls from Delhi Godman’s Ashram

Nearly a week after more than 40 girls were rescued from a north Delhi ashram run by self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit, two more girls were rescued from another one of his ashrams in Delhi’s Karawal Nagar, police officials said on Tuesday. The operation was carried out by the police and the Delhi Commission for Women.

The raid on the Karawal Nagar ashram meant the crackdown on the controversial spiritual leader’s premises continued. Adding to the raids carried out in his ashrams in Rohini and Dwarka, the number of girls rescued has gone up to over 47.

DCW chief Swati Maliwal along with Ajay Verma, an advocate appointed as amicus curae by the High Court, had visited the centre at Karawal Nagar on Monday and found six women, including the two minors, living in confinement there.

Ms Maliwal has demanded a CBI probe into what she suspects is a human trafficking racket being run by Virendra Dev Dixit.

“It appears that Baba Virender Dev Dixit is running a human trafficking racket. The CBI should urgently and simultaneously conduct raids at all ashrams of Dixit across India and close them down. By delaying the raids, he is getting time to cover up his action,” she had said.

The issue came to light on December 20 when the police and DCW raided 70-year-old Dixit’s Rohini ashram and found more than 40 women being “kept in inhuman conditions”.

A panel formed by the Delhi High Court to inspect the ashram’s premises reported “horrible” living conditions of the women who were housed in “animal-like conditions with no privacy even for bathing”.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has, on Twitter, requested Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to order action against the ashram.