Ahmedabad, July 03: India’s richest state is not immune to the evils of an ancient past. The state government on Friday filed an affidavit in Gujarat High Court admitting that black magic was practised in the ashram run by religious preacher Asaram Bapu.
This comes a year after the mysterious death of two gurukul students in Ahmedabad which fanned rumours about black magic in the ashram.
The government’s affidavit follows a CID report to the court that black magic rituals were widely practised in the ashram.
The CID’s statement was in response to a public interest litigation filed by Shantilal Vaghela, father of one of the victims, Abhishek.
The CID came to the conclusion after a lie detector test on three disciples of the ashram in January.
Earlier, a police probe concluded that the two boys could have drowned in the Sabarmati river from where their bodies were fished out on July 5, 2008. The parents had rubbished that conclusion.
The government has also admitted that the ashram has also encroached upon 67,099 square metre of government land in Ahmedabad.
–Agencies