By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Ahmedabad: Even though a year has passed since the bodies of two minor boys studying in the gurukul(residential school) run by Asaram Bapu Ashram Trust was found in the waters of the river Sabarmati here, investigators are clueless about the accused involved in the crime.
Meanwhile, NGO representatives and human rights activists say that probe into the “mysterious death’’ of the boys is “total fraud’’ and “aimed at misguiding’’ the people.
Activists’ reactions came following an affidavit submitted by the CID (crime) before the Gujarat High Court recently.
CID (crime) probing into the episode has confessed in its affidavit that black magic may have been practiced within the premises of the ashram.
However, the affidavit said no evidence about the performance of black magic had been found by the investigators so far.
In fact, the parents of the deceased boys – Praful Vaghela and Shantilal Vaghela – had been alleging that their sons had been killed in the black magic act by the ashramites but the police investigators had not given any heed to them.
Vaghelas are demanding a probe by CBI, a federal agency, into the episode as they are not satisfied with the investigations by the CID(crime), a state government agency.
NGO Jan Sangharsh Manch (JSM) representative Mukul Sinha, himself a senior lawyer practicing in the Gujarat High Court, says: “CID (crime) investigation is a fraud because no FIR has been registered either by the local police or CID (crime) in the case’’.
Sinha says, “an investigation done without registering an FIR has no legal teeth’’.
“I wonder what kind of investigation CID (crime) is doing without having registered an FIR in the episode’’, he says.
“The developments since the incident took place in the first week of July 2008 suggest that the police and state administration is not taking genuine interest in the matter’’, points out Sinha, who has been demanding a CBI probe from the very beginning and also filed a PIL in the high court in this regard but his plea was rejected.
A 79-year-old architect-turned-activist P H Parmar, who has also filed a PIL, seeking severe punishment to the accused in the “mysterious death’’ of the boys, apprehends that the boys must have been killed during the practice of black magic in the ashram premises. He faces threats from Asaram’s disciples and has reported the matter to the high court
The affidavit’s claims about black magic being practiced in the ashram are based on the lie-detection test of three “shadhaks’(devotees) carried out by the Gandhinagar-based Forensic Science Laboratory(FSL).
Earlier, the disciples had concealed this fact during recording of their statements. The disciples subjected to lie detection test are Minketan Patra, Vikas Khemka and Uday Sanghani, official spokesman of the ashram.
“The FSL, after concluding the test on the trio, submitted its report, concluding that all the three persons, knew about the black magic performed in the ashram. They were also aware of the activities carried out at the ashram but they were concealing the same’’, CID (crime) inspector H B Rajput said in the affidavit.
The investigator also told the court that the three disciples would now be subjected to narco analysis test to cull out more information about the black magic and the death of the two boys.
The bodies of the boys – Dipesh Vaghela and Abhishek Vaghela, both aged between 5 and 7 years – were found in shallow waters of the river Sabarmati flowing behind the Gurukul on July 5 last year. Some parts of their bodies were also missing, giving credence to suspicion of their being killed during black magic performance.
The state government had been accused of protecting the Ashram and its officials as Sant Asaram Bapu enjoys close proximity with L K Advani. Like Advani, Sant Asaram is also a Sindhi and Advani makes it a point to visit Ashram whenever he comes to Ahmedabad.
Among other visitors to the Ashram include Minister of State for Home (Gujarat) Amit Shah.
Asaram’s ashram is also facing several court cases in and outside Gujarat pertaining to land grabbing.