New Delhi: A Delhi court on Monday expressed displeasure that CBI has not made any effort to know the whereabouts of self-styled spiritual guru Virender Deo Dixit despite Non Bailable Warrants issued against him for allegedly raping a minor girl.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Naveen Kumar Kashyap noted the submission of CBI that Dixit could not be arrested despite the efforts made by the agency.
It also noted the CBI's submission that an associate of Dixit joined investigation but he too was not in their contact and his whereabouts were not known.
The court said that it appears that despite issuance of NBWs no further efforts were made despite the fact that as per their investigation they came to know about the fact that he is absconding and not joining the investigation at all.
"CBI's stand before High Court is that such accused has 'absconded'. It may be noted that Section 83 of CrPC has certain objects i.e. to force the accused to submit himself before court of law. But Section 83 CrPC cannot be pressed into service unless proclamation under section 82 CrPC is issued i.e. stage of 82 CrPC has arrived. But CBI...did not move any application for the same during investigation."
"As such put up for appropriate order regarding taking cognisance or otherwise for July 20, 2019. It is noted for sake of record that cognizance is taken of offence and not of offender," the judge said.
The CBI had earlier filed a charge sheet against Dixit in a second case relating to the alleged rape of a girl who was drugged and exploited by him in Lucknow, officials said.
Along with 77-year-old Dixit, who had allegedly confined several women at his ashram Ishwariya Adhyatmik Vidyalaya in Rohini here and is now absconding, the agency has also charged his associate Gyaneshwari Mali in the charge sheet filed in a special court.
The agency had filed FIR against him in two cases of rape and a case against unidentified disciples for allegedly obstructing the work of a high court-appointed committee which went to the ashram on December 19, 2017.
The Delhi High Court had on December 20, 2017 directed the CBI to investigate the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women in the Rohini ashram where they were kept in "animal-like" conditions behind metal doors in a "fortress" surrounded by barbed wire.
In its charge sheet, the agency has slapped stringent IPC sections related to repeated rape 376(2)(n) which carry a sentence of at least 10 years and may extend to life imprisonment on both the accused. An additional charge of abetment has been invoked by the CBI against Mali.
Besides, the agency has also charged him for criminal intimidation and wrongful confinement.
"The investigation revealed that the accused (Dixit) allegedly raped the complainant from 2011 to 2015 on various occasions in different branches of Ishwariya Adhyatmik Vidyalaya and his associate (Mali) brought the complainant to Lucknow and allegedly gave her some intoxicated substances mixing them in milk and asked her to go to the accused (where she was allegedly raped)," CBI's spokesperson had said.
Dixit has been absconding since cases were registered against him and the agency has not been able to trace him in spite of an Interpol Blue Corner notice and a reward of Rs 5 lakh on him.
The agency had earlier this month filed a charge sheet against Dixit for allegedly raping a minor in his ashram in Rohini and Kampil, Uttar Pradesh in 1999.
In the third matter related to allegedly obstructing the work of a high court-appointed committee which went to the ashram on December 19, 2017, the agency has filed its charge sheet.
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