Though Asaram Bapu is in jail now after being sentenced to life imprisonment recently for raping a minor girl in his ashram, some of his followers at a village in Tangerpali block in Sundargarh district have been offering him puja since 2011.

The followers of Asaram have constructed a temple at Remanda village on the Ib river bank. Interestingly, self- styled godman Asaram had reached the spot by helicopter in January, 2011 to inaugurate the temple, which is named as Guru Mandir.

Sources said there is a photo of Asaram on a stage in the Guru Mandir, where his followers have  been  offering  puja to  him, unperturbed by the charges of heinous crimes slapped against the Baba. A Shiv linga is also there in the temple, but the followers of Asaram first offers puja to their Guru before offering  puja to lord Shiv.

They are also performing and paduka  puja  of Asaram on each Purnima.

“I do not believe the allegation against the Baba is true,”  said priest of the temple Sukhiram Rana.

Similarly, another follower of Asaram was also not ready to accept that the rape charge against Asaram is true.

“The allegations against the Baba are baseless. We have been offering puja to him for years as we believe he is a true spiritual leader and has been framed,” said one Sameer.

Meanwhile, the act of Asaram’s followers here  has been condemned by the intellectual mass. A  rapist  like  Asaram  bapu  getting  puja in  a  temple  is  condemnable.  The  act  of  his  followers must  be  stopped  immediately,”  said  lawyer Pranab  Prakash Singh in Sundargarh.