TIL Desk/National/New Delhi-The bail plea of self-styled sect chief Asaram Bapu in a rape case lodged against him by a Surat -based woman in 2013 would be now heard along with a similar petition filed by him in another case lodged in Jodhpur, the Supreme Court said today. “List along with SLP(Criminal)…,” a bench of Justices A K Sikri and N V Ramana said while tagging the plea with the other case in Jodhpur.
The apex court has already asked the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to set up a three-member panel to conduct medical examination on 79-year-old Asaram and file a report before it for disposal of his bail plea in the case registered in the Rajasthan city.
In July 2014, Asaram had sought bail on the ground that Gujarat Police had already filed a charge sheet. The 72-year- old religious preacher has maintained the sexual assault case against him had been filed with mala fide intention. Asaram had further said the rape complaint was lodged 12 years after the alleged crime. The bail petition has said that even after the alleged incident in 2001, the victim had stayed in Asaram’s ashram till 2007.
