Arrested godman moves district court for bail

After his bail application was rejected by the SDJM court here on Saturday, arrested godman Sarathi Baba, alias Santosh Roul, today moved the Cuttack District Sessions court here for regular bail.
"We moved the bail application after the same was rejected by the SDJM court and are hopeful that the matter would come up for hearing soon", said an advocate of Roul.
The state police arrested Roul on August 7 under several sections of IPC, SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, Arms Act and Religious Institutions (Misuse) Act. After six days of police remand, Roul is now lodged in Choudwar jail here.

Meanwhile, a team of crime branch sleuths reached Hyderabad in connection with Roul's controversial trip to the city and stay in a luxury hotel there with a woman medico, an estranged devotee of the godman.
Crime Branch sources said the police team would verify details of the trip and examine CCTV footage of the hotel.
Similarly, the police have also formed another team to investigate into the allegations levelled by a 24-year-old woman medico against Roul. The woman from Paradeep had alleged that Roul had threatened her with dire consequences if she revealed about the trip to Hyderabad. She had alleged that Roul had coerced her to file her initial FIR impleading four of his former devotees.

In a related development, the crime branch sleuths on Sunday night traced the luxury car that was apparently used to transfer certain valuables, including gold from the godman's ashram in Barimul in Kendrapara district just the night before the sleuths swooped on the Ashram on August 6. The red colour car was left deserted at a location in Jagatpur area on the outskirts of the city and was registered in the name of a godman's devotee, sources said.
According to another report reaching here, bank officials of a branch in Kendrapara are contemplating to break open a locker that was opened in the name of the godman's absconding son Satyam in March this year. The godman claims that Satyam is his adopted son.