NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has arrested a 33-year-old self-styled ‘godman’ for allegedly sexually assaulting two women on the pretext of helping them in solving their problems.
The accused, identified as Vinod Kashyap, was running a place called ‘Mata Masani Chowki Darbar’ in Kakrola area.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Dwarka) M Harsh Vardhan said that two women had lodged a complaint against the accused stating that they were his devotees and the man had asked them to do ‘Sewa’ (service) at his ‘darbar’.
“When they stayed there, the accused allegedly raped both of these women,” he said.
He said that two separate complaints have been received by the police and after preliminary investigation two FIRs, both under sections 376 (rape) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) were registered at the Dwarka North police station.
“We have arrested the accused,” the official said, adding that the accused also threatened the victims not to disclose to anyone about incident.
“The complainants alleged that they had to sell their jewellery and give him money because he told them he had the power to destroy their lives and that he would tell their spouses and families about the sexual relations,” said a police officer.
It was learnt that the accused had a large following on social media with more than 43,000 followers on Instagram and he also ran a YouTube channel on which he had around 34,000 subscribers.
In some of his videos, the accused could be seen behaving in a way as if he had been ‘possessed’ by some divine spirit. The police said Kashyap was produced before the court and sent to three days’ police remand and more raids are being conducted to arrest his associates.
“Further investigation is underway,” he added.