Gujarat Police get one-day remand of Narayan Sai

A Delhi court Wednesday granted Gujarat Police a one-day transit remand of spiritual guru Asaram Bapu's son Narayan Sai, accused in a rape case in Surat.

Metropolitan Magistrate Dheeraj Mor granted the transit remand for Narayan Sai and two other accused, Kaushal Thakur alias Hanuman and driver Ramesh Malhotra. Gujarat Police sought the transit remand, saying that Narayan Sai was required to be presented before a local court, which has issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

Narayan Sai was on run after a complaint was filed by a 30-year-old woman that he raped her between 2001 and 2005. He was arrested along with four accomplices from Pipli village near Kurukshetra in Haryana Tuesday night. Gujarat Police told the court that Sai was trying to escape from the law. "There is a specific allegation against Sai in the case. A warrant has been issued against him by a Surat court," a police officer said.

Police said Sai and Hanuman were already mentioned in the complaint while during investigation it was revealed that Malhotra was sending girls to Sai. Police alleged that the three were equal participants in the criminal misconduct. Sai's counsel Pradeep Rana told the court that Sai was going to surrender before a court in Gujarat but police arrested him on a tip-off.

He opposed the police's plea and said Sai will cooperate in the investigation. Rana said Sai was innocent in the case. On being asked by the court as to why Sai was not responding to the court's summons, counsel said Sai was apprehensive that the court will not grant him bail or any relief due to hype created by the media in the case.

He said Sai and Asaram have both been accused in rape cases. Another defence counsel, A.P. Singh said the case was politically motivated and was registered in a bid to malign the image of Hindu seers. The court also pulled up Gujarat Police for not coming with proper documents and case files and asked them to submit scanned documents.