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March 17, 2016

India: Witnesses killings carried out on ‘behalf of self-styled godman Asaram Bapu’, reveals shooter

Witnesses killings carried out on ‘behalf of Asaram’, reveals shooter

Karthik Haldar, who was picked up from Chhattisgarh, has allegedly named Asaram in his statement before the police, suggesting he was a conspirator in all the murders.

Written by Satish Jha | Ahmedabad | Updated: March 16, 2016 8:53 am

The alleged shooter, who is accused of killing three witnesses and attempting to kill four others in the rape case against self-styled godman Asaram and his son Narayan Sai, has reportedly told the Ahmedabad Police that the killings were carried out “on behalf of Asaram”.

Karthik Haldar, who was picked up from Chhattisgarh, has allegedly named Asaram in his statement before the police, suggesting he was a conspirator in all the murders. On Tuesday, Haldar was produced before a metropolitan court that sent him in police custody for four days.

A police officer, who interrogated him, said, “A few months back Karthik and others (suspects who are yet to be arrested) had gone to meet Asaram in Jodhpur jail. This is on record since they met him by registering names with their identity cards. Therefore, we can’t rule out the possibility that Asaram knew about the killings.”

About the 2009 attack on Raju Chandak, another Asaram follower, in Ahmedabad, Karthik has reportedly claimed that the act was carried out at the “behest of Asaram”. He has alleged that Chandak was attacked for speaking against the godman before the justice D K Trivedi Commission appointed to probe the mystery deaths of two children at Asaram’s Motera ashram.

Karthik has been handed over to Ahmedabad Police’s Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) that is probing the firing on Lala Thakor, a resident of Chandkheda in the city. Thakor, who narrowly escaped an attack, reportedly had a property dispute with Asaram.


source URL: http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/arrested-shooter-has-named-asaram-bapu-case-police/