Rajasthan: Saffron robed ‘Falahari Baba’ charged with rape

JAIPUR: Baba baba everywhere! Kaushlendra Prapannacharya Falahari Maharaj, 70, is in a private hospital in Alwar over “high blood pressure”.

“Falahari Baba” has been charged with raping a 21-year-old woman at his ashram.

A police team tracked him down to the hospital and is now waiting to be allowed to speak to him.

Dubbed “Falahari” because of his reported fruits-only diet, the Baba has been seen in photographs with top political leaders and celebrities.

The woman alleged that she was assaulted at Baba’s lavish ashram in Rajasthan’s Alwar on August 7. She was allegedly told that the Baba couldn’t meet anyone during an “eclipse” and asked to stay the night. The woman has told the police that the Baba called her at night to his room and assaulted her.

Gathering courage, the woman broke her silence after watching Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s rape charges. Ram Rahim is now serving a 20-year jail term for raping two followers.

The woman, a law intern, had visited the ashram to donate some money. Apparently on the baba’s recommendation that she secured an internship under a senior lawyer in Delhi, for which she received a stipend of Rs. 3,000.

“Her family told her to give it to the Baba. When she went to meet him he told her to wait and then raped and threatened her. The parents came to us after the woman told them everything and we registered a case,” said Archana Jha, a police officer in Chhattisgarh’s Bilaspur.

“There is a conspiracy to defame saints, I cannot say anything on the charge. Babaji is currently hospitalized,” said the Baba’s main sewadar or aide.