After Jodhpur police and commandos had pushed Asaram into a vehicle and raced towards Indore airport on August 31, 2013, Ajay Pal Lamba got a call on his mobile phone. “Mukta kisi bhi gaadi mein nahin hai. Woh humare saath nahin hai, sir. Woh peechche ashram main hi chhoot gayi hai lagta hai!’ (Mukta is not in any of the vehicles. She is not with us, sir. It seems that she has been left behind at the ashram!)”
Sub-inspector Mukta Pareek, SHO of the Women’s Police Station (West), Jodhpur, went missing in the melee that preceded the arrest of controversial godman Asaram Bapu at the Indore ashram. Amid the sudden, unforeseen action, the team members’ detailing and who would sit where and in which vehicle, had been disturbed.
Mukta was safe. She called Lamba to tell him that she hopped on to an Indore Police vehicle and was also headed to the airport.
This is one of the many tales from a new book that Lamba has written, calling it the true story behind Asaram Bapu’s conviction. The book, titled Gunning for the Godman, will be released on September 5.
Lamba, a 2005-batch IPS officer, was posted in Jodhpur East as Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) when the FIR against Asaram was registered in August 2013. After Asaram was pronounced guilty and imprisoned for life in March 2018, Lamba decided to pen the journey that involved difficulties, pressures, inducements and threats during the arrest and trial in the case.
The book narrates how a team of 20 officers, called ‘the tough twenty’ in the book, investigated the charges, collected evidence, arrested the accused and filed a charge sheet despite all efforts made by the godman’s high profile battery of lawyers to get the man off the hook using all the tricks of the trade.
{{/usCountry}}The book narrates how a team of 20 officers, called ‘the tough twenty’ in the book, investigated the charges, collected evidence, arrested the accused and filed a charge sheet despite all efforts made by the godman’s high profile battery of lawyers to get the man off the hook using all the tricks of the trade.
{{/usCountry}}“It is the story of foiling the Baba’s many attempts to get away scot-free; they arrested him in a matter of only ten days, and how they assiduously saw the victim and her family through a four-year long trial. This, despite the countless threats not only to the girl and her family, but also to DCP Lamba’s own family and the team. A testimony to unrelenting courage, this story of a dynamic police officer’s pursuit of justice is a lesson for these troubled times,” said the description of the book on the publisher’s website.
Also Read: Asaram verdict: All you need to know about the case against him
Lamba said there were several moments during the trial when it seemed like an endless judicial process, but the doggedness of senior officers and public prosecutors led to the case reaching a logical conclusion.
“The examination and cross-examination of all the witnesses lasted for more than three years. The victim was cross-examined for twenty-seven days, her mother, for nineteen days, her father, for eighteen days and the investigating officer, ACP Chanchal Mishra, for several months,” the book said.
Also Read: Asaram case: Self-styled godman’s journey from puritanical preacher to rape convict
Lamba, currently the additional commissioner of police in Jaipur, is happy that the book will soon be converted into a motion picture by Anubhav Sinha.
“I decided to write the book because I wanted the tale of Asaram’s conviction told so that people know that no one, no matter how influential they are, is above the law,” said the officer, who is an electrical engineer.