BHOPAL: In a shocking incident, a 16-year-old girl was allegedly locked and then raped by a religious leader Mahant Sitaram Das in the room of the high-security Circuit House with the help of a local history-sheeter in Rewa district.
The chilling incident happened on March 28, when the girl was brought to the Circuit House by the local history-sheeter Vinod Pandey in the name of getting some pending work done with the religious leader’s help.
Once at the Raj Niwas (Circuit House), the teenager was locked in the room where Mahant Sitaram Das alias Samarth Tripathi’s men first tried to force her into drinking liquor. Later, she was raped by the Mahant.
The matter was reported to the Rewa district police by the alleged rape survivor on March 29, after which a case was registered against the religious leader, the history-sheeter and two others under IPC Sections 342, 504, 323, 328, 376, 506 and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Das was later arrested from Singrauli district. The arrest was made just a few hours after CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan directed Rewa police and administration to take sternest action against the accused, including bulldozing their properties.
According to Rewa district additional police superintendent Shiv Kumar Verma, while the history-sheeter Vinod Pandey (who is accused in over three dozen criminal cases) has been arrested, the rape accused Mahant is absconding. The identity of two unidentified accused is being ascertained.
“Primary investigations have revealed that the room of the Circuit House (where the alleged crime happened) was booked in the name of the history-sheeter Vinod Pandey. It’s now being probed how a history-sheeter managed to get a room allotted in his name at the Circuit House, which is meant for stay by VIPs, including public representatives,” the ASP said.
The alleged rape survivor in her primary statements before the police said that when she was taken to the Circuit House room to meet the Mahant (for getting some pending work done), a liquor party was underway inside. She was first forced to consume liquor and later locked in the room, where she was raped.
After the horrific episode, the Mahant’s followers were taking her to some other place in a car, but she managed to flee with the help of a local resident known to her.
According to informed sources in Rewa, the concerned young religious leader Mahant Sitaram Das hails from the Gurh area of Rewa district. He claimed to be closely related to ex-BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh, Ram Vilas Vedanti.
He was camping in Rewa in the name of inviting people to a 10-day Hanuman Katha event and his pictures with senior ruling BJP leaders and some senior police officers of Rewa are now emerging in the public domain. A picture of the young Mahant with a woman in a compromising position has also gone viral.
The state Congress spokesperson Narendra Saluja tweeted over the development on Wednesday, questioning whether CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan will get properties of the accused in this case bulldozed, just like his government and police have been demolishing properties of those accused in other criminal cases.
CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan is visiting the same Rewa district on Wednesday for a Rozgar Diwas program.