FARRUKHABAD: In view of serious allegations raised against spiritual leader Virender Dev Dikshit's Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in Delhi, the police here on Saturday raided two ashrams run by him at Siktarbad and Kampil and rescued 47 women and a minor girl.
Senior police officials led the raids.
Facing a stiff opposition from the inmates, the police had to enter the ashrams through the roofs of the adjoining buildings, they said.
The women inmates of the ashrams demanded a search warrant for opening the gates and were also involved in a verbal spat with the police.
Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Tribhuvan Singh said the minor girl, rescued from the Siktarbad ashram, would be produced before a magistrate and her statement would be recorded soon.
Earlier today, the Delhi Commission for Women along with a police contingent raided an ashram run by the spiritual head in Dwarka and rescued five girls who were confined there.
On Thursday, raids were conducted on Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in Rohini where women and girls were kept confined like "animals in a cage". The ashram was founded by Virender Dev Dixit.
At least 41 teenage girls were rescued from Rohini and several objectionable items were seized. Maliwal claimed that there were boxes found in the ashram that contained letters with "explicit content" written to the female inmates by Dixit.
The DCW chief had earlier claimed that the ashram in Rohini had metal gates at every 10 metres and the terrace had barbed wire to prevent the girls from escaping.
Local residents claimed that the girls were being tormented for years. They claimed that the police did not pay heed to complaints and its only now after the court order that truth about the ashram has finally come out.
The issue had come to light due to a PIL filed by an NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment before the Delhi High Court. It had informed the court that several minors and women were allegedly being illegally confined there.
Following the PIL, the high court had set up a committee, comprising lawyers and DCW chief Swati Maliwal, to inspect the premises of the institute.
The high court also asked the committee to inspect eight other similar centres being run by Dixit in the national capital after the existence of these places was brought to the court's attention.
