Millionaire godman Rampal doesn't have Rs.20,000 for bail bond

India Today/December 10, 2014

Once a millionaire and now pauper, arrested godman Rampal was seen in a helpless condition on Tuesday when he failed to furnish a Rs.20,000-surety bond for his bail.

Though Rampal was granted bail in case number 427 (obstructing official business charges), nobody came forward to provide the surety bond.

A local court had on Monday remanded self-styled godman Rampal in three-day police custody in connection with the death of a woman follower during the recent stand-off between his disciples and police outside his ashram in Hisar.

The controversial sect leader also faces several other serious charges, including those of treason.

Funding

Meanwhile, Rampal's aides, during their interrogation, revealed that besides selling his followers tickets to heaven, Rampal also took forcible donations from women followers and performed "special pujas" to milk his followers.

Babita Kumari (alias Baby), her father Baljit and order aides of Rampal told police, during joint and individual interrogations, that the godman fooled his followers by performing pujas to ward off "difficulties" and "sufferings".

These special pujas were performed every fortnight, and about 2,000 to 3,000 followers participated in this ritual. Every participant, sources said, were charged Rs.9,000 to attend the puja.

Sources also revealed that Rampal's followers were instructed to sell his 10-acre land and a palatial house in Kurukshetra to deposit Rs.90 lakh in a bank account under Satlok Ashram's name.

Regarding the tickets to heaven, the callous godman promised innocent followers that Rs.1 lakh donation would guarantee them a place in heaven

Blame game

Rampal, however, has throughout maintained that he is innocent. During interrogation, the godman told the police that his aides Ramkumar Dhaka, Baljit, Rajka Kapoor and Rajender were responsible for carrying out all unlawful activities within the ashram

Rampal, sources said, also told police that he had no knowledge of what happened outside his ashram when police and paramilitary forced arrived to arrest him.

"I was told by my followers that they (Dhaka, Baljit, Kapoor and Rajender) fired on the police. It is due to their misdeeds that my ashram was ruined. Everybody is in trouble now," Rampal was quoted as saying in the Hisar police's disclosure report. The godman added, according to the report, that the three aides handed over petrol bombs to his women followers who were forced to throw the same at the police. According to Rampal, petrol purchased for ashram's buses was used to make these petrol bombs.

However, sources said, Rampal was blasted off by his close aide, Babita, who told the police that the godman had ordered to throw dead bodies of four women followers outside the ashram to defame the police and incite followers.

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