Asaram Bapu's son Narayan Sai gets life imprisonment for rape

On Tuesday a court in Surat sentenced Narayan Sai, the son of the imprisoned self-styled godman Asaram Bapu, to a maximum life sentence in a case of rape and unnatural sex. Sai was also fined with Rs 5 lakh in the case of rape of a woman disciple.

Early Friday he was sentenced by the court and the punishment was announced on Tuesday.

Along with Sai, three other convicts in the case - Ganga aka Dharmishtha, Jamna aka Bhavna, Kaushal aka Hanuman - were sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison for helping the main convict in rapes and unnatural sex. The fifth defendant, Ramesh Malhotra, was sentenced to six months in prison.

The convicts were sentenced to a lesser sentence of imprisonment for assault and illicit confinement charges.

PN Parmar, a special prosecutor, had asked the court to grant life imprisonment to the convicts in their argument before the award of the sentence.

Sai and other defendants were booked into the Jahagirpura police station in Surat in 2013 following a woman's complaint. The complainant's older sister had filed a separate complaint of rape and assault against Asaram on the same day. The investigation of the rape case against Asaram was transferred to Ahmedabad later since the rape took place in Ahmedabad Ashram.