Guj HC rejects Asaram's plea not to appear before the panel

Justice Paresh Upadhyay, while dismissing the petition also slammed Asaram for concealing the fact that similar petition was filed in the court in July this year which was also rejected by the court and directed him to deposit Rs 25,000 as the cost of litigation.

"It is not only suppression of facts by the petitioner but can also be termed as a frivolous petition, the petition is hence needed to be dismissed," the court observed in the order and directed Asaram to deposit the amount within 6 weeks.

Justice (retd) D K Trivedi Commission of inquiry had earlier this year issued summons to Asaram and his son Narayan Sai to appear before it for the examination as witnesses.

The father-son duo had consistently and on different grounds delayed their appearances.

Asaram at one point, in last month, had also requested the Commission either to visit his Ashram at Motera here and examine him or take the help of video conferencing for the purpose.

On November 9, 2012, the Commission, while rejecting the request, directed both Narayan Sai and Asaram to remain present on November 11 and December 1, respectively.

On November 11, Narayan Sai appeared before the panel which examined him for almost 8 hours. MORE