Asish Mehta
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 9: A day after arresting self-proclaimed ‘godman’ Sarathi Baba alias Santosh Raula on charges of cheating and other offences, the crime branch (CB) of Orissa police Sunday started grilling him.
A court had Saturday rejected Sarathi’s bail plea and allowed CB to take the Baba on remand for three days from Sunday.
A marathon grilling of the godman began under CCTV surveillance at CB headquarters in Cuttack in the afternoon, a senior police officer said. ‘‘Besides scrutinising a number of files and documents, the sleuths examined a laptop and a computer hard disk seized from Sarathi’s ashram in Kendrapara in a bid to gather information about his financial transactions. Sarathi’s chartered accountant was also being questioned and his laptop examined. The focus of interrogation was the godman’s alleged fraudulent possession of land, money collected in the name of a charitable trust, his visit to Hyderabad, Kolkata and involvement in criminal activities,” sources said.
“Investigating Officer Alok Das and other senior officials of the agency grilled Sarathi Sunday afternoon. They asked him the secrets of his ‘magical powers’ at his ashram. A businessman of Kendrapara who was close to Sarathi was also interrogated by CB at its headquarters,” the sources added.
Sources in Choudwar Jail said Sarathi Saturday night had rotis and curry (dalma) as his dinner.
“He did not sleep properly in the night, and woke up at 3am to do meditation. In the morning his breakfast consisted of fruits, and after that he took medicine for diabetes. He was taken to CB office in Cuttack later,” the sources added.
Meanwhile, an MBBS student who had reportedly accompanied Sarathi to Hyderabad, was escorted by Mangalabag police to Paradip.
“We escorted the girl Sunday to Paradip where her family resides. We returned in the evening after leaving her there,” Mangalabag police station inspector-in-charge Arun Kumar Swain told Orissa POST.
Meanwhile, the state government shifted Kendrapara police superintendent Satish Gajbhiye to Cuttack following allegations of highhandedness against the demonstrators who were demanding arrest of Sarathi, has said the media had turned a blind eye to the lawlessness of the public and their aggressive gesture towards the police.
“Many cops sustained injuries. The entire concatenation was to provoke police. Police worked under a lot of resilience and restraint,” he claimed.
“The media houses’ claims of police brutality are false and concocted,” he added.
Earlier, a case was registered against Sarathi under various sections of the IPC, SC-ST Atrocities (prevention) Act, Arms Act and provisions of Misuse of Religious Institutions Act.
During the raid at his Barimula Ashram the CB had seized 10 kg of silver, 55 kg of metal lockets bearing the godman’s picture, two swords, CDs containing his publicity materials, bank and land documents.
The ‘godman’ has been at the centre of a controversy for over a week after a TV channel showed pictures alleging that he had spent two days with a lady, who posed as his wife, at a Hyderabad hotel.
Kendrapara town, which witnessed protests against Sarathi and pitched battles with police two days ago, returned to normalcy Saturday after his arrest and transfer of Gajviye following complaints of alleged excesses.