A self-styled godman and his associates have been arrested in Pune for sexually exploiting a woman for years, forcing her to divorce her husband, making her commit theft and subjecting her to electric shocks. The ‘baba’, who convinced the woman that he was an incarnation of god, even made her drink his urine.
Radheshyam Mishra aka Radhamohan Mishra ran what he called a ‘modern gurukul’ in the Ubale Nagar area of Wagholi in Pune. Officials said Mishra had been deceiving and exploiting people for years, and the woman entered his orbit around 2010.
Over time, the ‘godman’ isolated the woman from her family and made her divorce her husband. Between 2010 and 2016, he sexually exploited her, physically assaulted her, subjected her to electric shocks and recorded obscene videos of her.
He used the videos to blackmail the woman, and his influence and what he claimed were his ‘powers’ to intimidate her family.
Mishra and his aides made the woman and many other followers believe that he was god reincarnate and forced her to drink his urine. During those six years, he also made her commit theft to enrich himself and his ashram.
Police raided Mishra’s ashram and seized a large quantity of objectionable material from an underground room. They recovered 12 laptops, 11 mobile phones, 19 hard drives, and numerous pen drives and cassettes. Rs 6.5 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 15 lakh were found, and so was a large stock of medicinal pills and drugs, prompting the police to intensify their investigation. A thorough forensic examination of the electronic devices is currently underway.
Mishra and seven associates, including his close aide ‘Swami’ Kanwal Nayan, have been arrested. “We suspect more survivors may come forward. We are conducting a detailed investigation and working to gather more evidence,” an official said.
The eight accused were presented before a court and remanded in custody till Saturday.
