A self-styled god man landed in soup as Soro police began an investigation into his activities following direction from a local court after a 45- year-old woman, a disciple of his ashram, lodged a harassment case against him.
The woman, a resident of Bartana under Khaira police station limits, had earlier lodged a compliant with Dhenkikot police of Keonjhar. Subsequently, she had approached the court in Soro. Basing on her compliant, a case was registered under different Sections of IPC against the accused, police said.
The victim woman said she became a disciple of Baba Gobinda Mallick about 12 years back. Mallick was operating from an ashram in Sri laxminarayan Durga temple located in Bahanaga.
She was a regular visitor to the ashram when he was offering spiritual teachings to the disciples. She alleged that Mallick, however, kept physical relationship with her and took her along with him to different holy places of India, including Haridwar. At Haridwar, Mallick started meting out physical and mental torture to the woman. Somehow, she managed to flee from Haridwar to Dhenkikot but Mallick followed her to the place and kept harassing her.
When the woman lodged a compliant with the police, Mallick grew aggressive and revengeful. Finding no other ways, the woman sought security from the court in Soro.
Meanwhile, the police during the investigation have found that the accused was earlier a State Government employee and had quit the job to run an NGO. Subsequently, he became self-proclaimed ‘Thakur Baba.’
“After receiving direction from the court, the statement of the victim was recorded. A thorough investigation is on,” investigating officer Ganesh Pradhan said.