Boys' death at Asaram ashram: Court rejects plea for CBI probe

Ahmedabad, Aug 5: A local court today rejected a plea seeking CBI probe in the 2008 death case of two cousins staying at self-styled godman Asaram Bapu's city-based ashram.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate M V Gohel rejected the plea filed by the parents of the deceased on the ground that the probe agency - state CID - has already filed the charge sheet after investigating the case.

Cousins Dipesh Vaghela (10) and Abhishek Vaghela (11) went missing from Asaram's gurukul, a residential school situated in Motera ashram of the city, on July 3, 2008 under mysterious circumstances. On July 5, 2008, the mutilated bodies of the two boys were found in the Sabarmati riverbed near the ashram.

The parents of the two children had filed a plea before a magisterial court in January this year seeking transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

A widespread public agitation was held against Asaram after the two boys were found dead, with allegations that their deaths were linked to black magic practised in the ashram.

The application seeking CBI probe said the cause of the death of the two children has not been investigated properly by the local police as well as the inquiry commission (Justice D K Trivedi Commission) constituted by the state government. According to the applicant, all the investigations have been allegedly aimed at shielding the real killers of the children.

Justice D K Trivedi Commission was formed by the state government in July 2008, which submitted its report on the incident to the state Home department in July 2013. However, it has not yet been tabled in the state Assembly.

The state CID had in 2009 booked seven followers of Asaram in the death case of two the children under IPC section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) against whom charge sheet was filed in September 2012.

PTI