Arrested godman Sarathi Baba alias Santosh Roul on Wednesday alleged that he has been framed and is a victim of a “conspiracy”. He said he is being tortured ever since his arrest on August 8 and attempts are now being made to turn him insane.
“I am a victim of a conspiracy and conspiracies are now also being hatched to make me mad. I am being punished and subjected to torture for nearly two months by restricting me in a solitary cell and not allowing anybody to meet me. For the first time in these two months I am seeing people and hearing them now,” Santosh told reporters while being escorted back to Choudwar jail from a local court here on the day.
It is not known whether Santosh brought all these complaints to the notice of the magistrate as his counsel refused to comment over the statements given by his client to the media outside the court premises. Santosh was arrested by the Crime Branch police on August 8 after he was brought here to police headquarters for questioning from his Barimul Ashram in Kendrapada district.
Booked under a separate case on charges of extortion, criminal intimidation, intent to injure, criminal conspiracy in furtherance of common intension brought by a woman medico, Santosh was produced before the SDJM Court here for recording his statements under section 164 of CrPC. In a ‘U’ turn, the allegations were made against the godman by the medico, who had allegedly accompanied him during a Hyderabad trip in August this year and stayed with godman in a star hotel for three days. Since Santosh’s counsel had made an application before the magisterial court for simultaneous examination of his client in the case registered upon the allegations made by the woman medico, he was produced in the court for recording his statements. The court remanded him to judicial custody fixing October 13 for next hearing on the matter.