Asaram verdict: Here's a chilling primer on the case against the 'godman'

Starting out in a hut in Motera on the banks of the Sabarmati, Asaram's consisting of 400 minor and major ashrams spread across multiple Indian states and abroad

Asaram Bapu has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons for years now, both before and after his arrest in September 2013. The latest amongst these incidents connected to the godman is the death of a third witness in criminal cases against him – Kripal Singh, who was shot by two motorcycle-borne assailants in Puwayan in the Shajahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

Even by the murky standards of India’s self-styled spiritual gurus, the allegations whirling around the 74-year-old Asaram are exceptional: suspected black magic and human sacrifice; the deaths of four young male students of the residential schools in