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Vadodara, January 10: DEPOSED Acharya of Vadtal-based Swaminarayan sect, Ajendraprasad Pandey, has been named as an accused in a complaint filed by the Vadtal temple administrator in the sex-on-tape scandal that rocked the sect a few months ago.
A complaint of criminal conspiracy naming Ajendraprasad was lodged by the administrator (kothari) of Vadtal temple, Swami Dharmapriyadas, at Chaklasi police station in Kheda district on Saturday.
The CD, which blew the lid off the incident, had shown two sadhus of the sect’s Dabhoi temple, some 30 km from Vadodara, indulging in sex with a call girl. The Local Crime Branch of Nadiad police is investigating and police said that Ajendraprasad’s ‘‘role’’ was being closely looked at and that he could be arrested soon if his ‘‘role was confirmed.’’
According to the complaint, it was Ajendraprasad, who instigated haribhaktas (followers) to arrange for a call girl and trap the sadhus on tape, thereby causing harm to reputation of the sect.
Of the five accused, two are from Ahmedabad (Vijay Nagji Sohagia and Thakore Patel) and three (Ravjibhai, Jayantibhai and Himant Vaheria) from Surat.
Registered under Sections 153 (A) and (B), 294, 295 (A) and 120 (B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the complaint alleges that the accused conspired and shot the film and then released it to media to malign the image of the sect in public eye.
Inspector K S Sawani said the police had already taken the call girl’s statement and that of acuused Thakore Patel, and that they had Ajendraprasad’s nod. Following the revelations, the two sadhus had fled and are still absconding.
The incident had caused much anguish among the sect’s followers and also tarnished its image. Insiders said the episode had marked one more low in the ongoing turf war between the Dev and Acharya factions. With the two sadhus on tape belonging to Dev group, the ‘sex-on-tape’ was alleged to be a conspiracy of Acharya’s followers to score over Devs. ‘‘We are looking at all possibilities. If Ajendraprasad’s role is confirmed, we may arrest him soon. But as of now, the investigation will focus on how the girl was arranged, who was involved and what was the motive among other things,’’ Sawani said. |