Asaram clears 2nd potency test

Reports of the second potency test conducted on self-styled godman Asaram Bapu were positive, similar to the one obtained from Jodhpur last month, police said here today.

"The potency test was conducted on Asaram today. We have received the medical report which is similar to the one obtained from Rajasthan," Joint Commissioner of Police Sector-I J K Bhatt told reporters here today.

Incidentally, 72-year-old Asaram had cleared a potency test conducted on him in Jodhpur last month.

Asked whether a lie-detector test would be conducted on the spiritual leader, Bhatt said that for certain tests, consent of the concerned person is required and Asaram has refused a lie-detector test.

Earlier, the test could not be held after Asaram had refused to co-operate with the police.

When asked if Asaram was cross-examined along with the victim during his remand period, Bhatt said that both of them were questioned, but not in front of each other as both denied to do so.

Police, it was learnt, would seek Asaram's remand from the court tomorrow when his current remand period ends.

Recently, the Surat police registered two complaints — one against Asaram and another against his son Narayan Sai — for rape, sexual assault, illegal confinement and other charges, as alleged by the two sisters.

In her complaint, the elder of the two sisters accused Asaram of repeated sexual assaults during her stay in his ashram between 1997 and 2006 on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.

The younger of the two sisters had filed a complaint against Asaram's son Narayan Sai, accusing him of repeated sexual assaults between 2002 and 2005 when she was staying in Asaram's Surat ashram.

The spiritual leader was brought to Ahmedabad on Monday evening on a transit remand from a court in Jodhpur, where he was lodged in a jail since August, in another sexual assault case.

The JCP also said that several people's names have surfaced during the interrogation, which lasted close to five hours today.

Asaram's daughter today evaded questions related to the incident and said that she wanted to create her own identity rather than be known as Asaram's daughter.