'Missing' woman in Asaram case appears before police

A 33-year-old married woman, who has accused self-styled godman Asaram Bapu of rape and who mysteriously disappeared from her house two weeks ago, today appeared before the Surat police.

"The woman today appeared before Kamrej police station in Surat city," Superintendent of police Pradip Sejul told PTI over phone.

The woman stayed in Ahmedabad after she went missing from her Surat house two weeks back and yesterday she went to Indore in Madhya Pradesh, from where she returned today, said Sejul.

"About her disappearance, she told the police that the police protection given to her had disturbed her social life. Her friends and other people often asked her about the reason for the protection. Her child too faced questions at school. This she said was the primary reason," he said.

The woman, her husband and son disappeared on December 14 after telling the police constables posted outside her house that she was going to attend a family event.

However, after four days Surat police realised that she and her family were untraceable.

Before she disappeared, the woman had filed an application before the court seeking to change her statement in the rape case, recorded before a magistrate.

But the Gandhinagar court rejected the plea on December 22.
The woman filed a complaint last year alleging that Asaram sexually assaulted her several times between 1997 and 2006 when she was staying at his ashram.

Her younger sister had filed a similar complaint of rape against Asaram's son Narayan Sai.

Asaram is currently lodged in a Rajasthan jail in connection with another rape case. Speaking to reporters in Surat later today, the woman said she did not go missing but was in Ahmedabad in connection with a legal matter.

"I went to visit my advocate in Ahmedabad to have some legal consultation. The news that I had gone missing and I was being pressurised is not true," she said.

"There is no such pressure on me at all, I had gone there of my own will. I was busy with legal process for giving a statement before magistrate. Today I, with my family, appeared before Kamrej police station," she said.