Jodhpur: Self-styled 'godman' Asaram Bapu left for Delhi tonight by train for a medical test at AIIMS, as directed by the Supreme Court, amid tight security.
A medical board of All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) in the national capital will examine Asaram on Thursday in connection with his bail application in the Jodhpur rape case.
"We have sent Asaram by train on Wednesday evening with a team of 17 policemen led by an officer of ACP-level," DCP (West) Rahul Jain said.
He said SPs of all the districts enroute have been alerted keeping in view the possibility that Asaram's devotees and followers might stage protests and create a ruckus.
"12 Battalion of Rapid Armed Constabulary will receive him in New Delhi and would escort him to the hospital and back to the railway station after the check up," Jain said. Asaram is expected to reach Delhi on Thursday morning.
The apex court on October 15 had directed AIIMS Director to set up a medical board to review medical reports and if required clinically examine Asaram to ascertain whether interim bail should be granted to him in Jodhpur rape case.
The SC had earlier fixed December 3 for Asaram's check up at AIIMS but it was postponed after Asaram refused to travel by surface transport and sought permission first from the District & Session court at Jodhpur and then from the Supreme Court on the matter. Both the courts rejected his pleas.
A bench headed by Justice TS Thakur refused to pass any order on how 76-year-old Asaram is to be brought from Jodhpur jail to the national capital, saying that it is for the state government to decide on it.
Earlier, Asaram had moved a bail application in the apex court on health ground and had submitted a medical report by a Jodhpur hospital, which had recommended a surgery stating that he was suffering from trigeminal neuralgia.
The court, then sought a fresh medical report from a medical board of AIIMS rejecting the bail application. Charges have been framed against Asaram for rape, criminal conspiracy and other offences by a Jodhpur court in connection with alleged sexual exploitation of a minor girl in his ashram in Jodhpur.
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