BHUBANESWAR: From a king-size life in his sprawling ashram to the Circle Jail at Choudwar - the clock has turned a full circle for Sarathi Baba. Hours after taking him into custody from his Barimul ashram in Kendrapara following a ground swell of public protests, the Crime Branch of Odisha Police on Saturday arrested the self-styled godman.
After a 14-hour marathon interrogation followed by search which went on till the wee hours of Saturday, Sarathi Baba was taken to the Crime Branch Headquarters at Cuttack where he was subjected to further questioning.
At around 1.15 pm, Additional Director General of the Crime Branch BK Sharma announced that Sarathi Baba, originally Santosh Raula, has been slapped at least 13 charges under different sections of the Indian Penal Code, Arms Act and Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. He has also been charged under Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988.
A special team led by IG Arun Bothra searched the ashram where it seized `2.28 lakh in cash, 15 kg of silver, 54.1 gram of gold and 55 kg of metal coins on which his image was embossed. Besides, property document and two swords were recovered by the investigating team. “The Crime Branch has begun the process to confiscate the bank accounts of Satyam Charitable Trust and that of Raula besides probing into his accumulation of wealth,” said Sharma who also questioned him.
At about 5 pm, he was produced before the Cuttack SDJM court where CB sought five-day remand for further investigation. The SDJM court remanded him in CB’s custody for three days. Since the remand will start from Sunday, he was sent to Circle Jail at Choudwar where he will spend the night.
When he came out of the SDJM court, a hostile crowd awaited Raula. He not only faced verbal abuse but also saw shoes being hurled at him. Before policemen could bundle him into the vehicle, someone also grabbed him by his hair. At the Choudwar Jail premises also, the security personnel faced a tough time with a huge crowd waiting to take out its anger.
Earlier, the Crime Branch had registered a case basing on the report submitted by an Additional SP ranked officer.
The probe agency has formed two teams which will go to Hyderabad and Jaipur where they will gather evidence about his stay in the hotels and collect CCTV footage. Another team will also come to Bhubaneswar’s Patia where he as well as his son own a property each.
As of now, Raula has been charged under Sections 420, 467,468,471,341,506,379 and 120(b) of the IPC, Section 3 of SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, Section 25 of Arms Act and Section 7 of Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act, 1988.
Meanwhile, the FIR of the woman who had allegedly accompanied Baba to Hyderabad and Jaipur has been passed on to the Crime Branch for investigation. She alleged death threats and sought protection besides naming four persons who she said blackmailed her.