From tonga driver to godman', Asaram amassed at least Rs 5,000 crore

Jaipur: Asumal Thaumal Harp-alani, now known as Asaram Bapu, once drove a tonga (horse-driven carriage) in Ajmer, Rajas-than. Asumal Sindhi Tangewallah, that’s how people knew him before his transformation into a spiritual guru who boasted five crore followers and amassed wealth amounting to around Rs 5,000 crore.

Locals say he lived in a rented room with his uncle and ran a tonga service at Diggi Chowk before he met Lilashah, a spiritual guru who, according to Sant Asaram Bapuji ki Jeevan Jhanki, accepted him as a disciple and named him Asaram ji Maharaj on October 7, 1964.

Almost a decade later, he set up his first ashram, called Moksha Kutir, in Motera on the banks of the Sabarmati River in 1973, and there was no looking back. He went on to establish over 400 ashrams in India, the US, Hong Kong, Canada and South Africa. 

Along with his followers, his clout and wealth also grew sharply as politicians cutting across party lines, bureaucrats and businessmen frequented his ashram. 

Before Prime Minister Narendra Modi became CM for the first time, he began his election campaign by sharing a stage with Asaram, in front of a huge crowd. 

Former prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani and Uma Bharti, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, former presidents K.R. Narayanan and A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former ministers Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal, and veteran politicians Prakash Singh Badal and Farooq Abdullah also took turns to pay obeisance. 

Inevitably, wealth followed clout, and successive governments, whether Congress or BJP, gave him land at concessional rates. 

Not surprisingly, the VHP criticised his arrest and the late VHP supremo Ashok Singhal visited him in jail in 2015.

It was in 1997 that a 20-year-old sadhika (female disciple) accused him of sexual assault. The allegation, carried by a Gujarati daily, created a storm but was soon forgotten. A decade later, Asaram faced major trouble for the first time in July 2008. Cousins Dipesh and Abhishek Vaghela, who used to stay at the gurukul of Asaram's ashram in Motera, were found dead under mysterious circumstances on the riverbed nearby. The parents of both alleged that they were killed in the ashram,apparently as part of a tantric magic ritual. Following a public outcry, a month later, the state government led by Modi appointed a commission under Justice D.K. Trivedi to probe allegations of tantric practices. The Trivedi Commission submitted its report on August 1, 2013, but the report was not tabled in the Assembly.

There were also cases of land grabbing against Asaram in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. 

However, the self-styled godman's empire really crumbled after he was accused of rape by a minor. The police charge sheet provides a detailed account of how Asaram and his associates conspired with Sharad and Shilpi, the wardens at the hostel in Chhindwara where the minor was staying, to sexually exploit the victim at his Manai ashram, 30 km from Jodhpur, on August 15, 2013.Two other associates, Shiva and Prakash (both acquitted by the court),allegedly contacted the father of the victim on his mobile to get her to Jodhpur. Asaram called the victim to a room in the ashramon the night of the incident and closed the door from inside. The victim was kept in the room for one-and-a-half hours.