HC asks CBI to file report on whereabouts and cases against Rohini ashram founder, to monitor probe

The Delhi High Court Thursday directed the CBI to file a status report on the whereabouts of absconding preacher Virender Dev Dixit, in whose ashram girls were allegedly kept in illegal confinement, and the progress made in cases against him, including of rape.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao said it would monitor the cases being probed by the agency against Dixit and listed the matter for further hearing on February.

"Considering the fact that CBI has registered two cases for commission of various alleged offences committed in the institution, we direct filing of a status report by the agency," the bench said.

It also said that probe in the two cases be completed and brought to its logical conclusion.

The court was hearing a matter relating to alleged confinement of girls and women at the Adhyatmik Vidyalaya, run by its founder Dixit in Rohini area of Northwest Delhi.

The bench was also informed that a matter relating to obstructing the members of a panel, constituted earlier by the court to inspect the Rohini ashram and its other branches in Delhi, has been settled in mediation.

The panel members included advocates Ajay Verma, Nandita Rao and Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal.

The court was also told by Rao that the DCP of the area and Maliwal have not adopted the settlement agreement.

It directed that Maliwal and the DCP should be present before the court on February 4 for explaining their stand.

The bench was hearing a PIL in which an NGO alleged that girls and women were illegally confined at the "spiritual university" in Rohini.

It had earlier directed the CBI to investigate the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women in the ashram where they were kept in "animal-like" conditions behind metal doors in a "fortress" surrounded by barbed wire.

The court had ordered the CBI to probe the matter by setting up a special investigation team (SIT) to take charge of all records and documents pertaining to the case.

At the first hearing of the matter, the court had said the situation at the Rohini ashram was "similar" to the one run in Sirsa, Haryana, without making any direct reference to Gurmeet Ram Rahim or the Dera Sacha Sauda sect led by him.