Daati Maharaj questioned by Crime Branch in rape case

Self-styled godman Daati Maharaj, accused of raping a disciple in his ashrams here and Rajasthan, was Tuesday questioned by the Crime Branch, police said.

The godman came to the Crime Branch office in Chanakyapuri Tuesday morning and was questioned for close to two hours, they said.

In June, a Delhi Police team, accompanied by the rape victim had visited Maharaj's ashram in Pali, Rajasthan to gather evidence, but they failed to find him at the ashram.

The woman had filed the complaint against the godman, his three brothers and a woman at the Fatehpur Beri police station in south Delhi in June. The case was later transferred to the Crime Branch.

The victim alleged that she was sexually abused at Maharaj's ashrams in Delhi and Rajasthan.

The woman told the police that she had been a disciple of the self-styled godman for a decade, but after she was raped by him, she returned to her home in Rajasthan.

The Delhi Police had earlier issued a lookout circular against him.