CBI announces ₹5lakh reward for information on rape suspect

The agency had, last year, informed the Delhi high court that its efforts to locate 77-year-old Dixit, who had allegedly confined several women at his ashram, Adhyatmik Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, in Rohini, Delhi, had not yielded results.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday announced a ₹5 lakh reward for any information on the whereabouts of self-styled godman Virender Dev Dixit, wanted for alleged rape in Delhi’s Rohini, officials said.

CBI began probing self-styled godman Virender Dev Dixit on the directions of Delhi High Court. (HT Photo)

The agency had, last year, informed the Delhi high court that its efforts to locate 77-year-old Dixit, who had allegedly confined several women at his ashram, Adhyatmik Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, in Rohini, Delhi, had not yielded results.

“The agency has informed that Dixit is absconding and has not joined investigation and efforts are being made to trace him in Nepal,” a high court bench had said.

The agency had issued two Look out Circulars (LoCs) on January 22, 2018 and February 22, 2019 against him. An interpol blue notice to locate him has also been issued on the request of the CBI on March 26, 2018.

CBI began probing Dixit on the directions of Delhi High Court. It has been alleged that Dixit illegal confined girls and women in his ashram where they were kept in “animal-like” conditions behind metal doors in a fortress surrounded by barbed wire. The agency has taken over probe into three FIRs registered by the Delhi Police at Vijay Vihar police station in Rohini.

The two cases are against Dixit for alleged rape and criminal intimidation, while one case is against unidentified people for allegedly obstructing the work of a high court-appointed committee which went to the ashram on December 19, 2017.