Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The rape accused Mahant Sitaram alias Samarth Tripathi is an engineering graduate in Civil Branch and he have learnt bad habits during his college life, the police said, adding that he is still under its influence.
Currently, the Mahant is in police custody for allegedly raping a minor college student in a circuit house, Rewa on March 28.
The Civil Line police registered the case against Mahant Sitaram and his companions Vinod Pandey, Sanjay Tripathi and Anshul Shukla under section 376 (D) (gang rape), 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC and POCSO Act.
The Civil Line police station in charge H N Sharma has told Free Press that the accused Sitaram, a resident of Gurha village, Rewa district, has pursued BE in the Civil Branch from Bhopal and his family is involved in religious preaching.
“He is just 22 years old and during his college studies, he came in contact with drug addict students. Later, he also became a part of them and started committing anti-social activities,” Sharma said.
“When the family came to know about the accused’s bad habits, they called him back from Bhopal and asked him to join the family work of religious preaching. Following the order, the accused returned back and wore the saffron,” TI Sharma added.
During interrogation, one of the officers asked him to recite any ‘Doha or Chaupai’ and the accused was not able to recite any single Doha, he added.
Sharma said that earlier, the accused also attacked one of the pujaris of a temple situated in Gohra village of Uttar Pradesh. He had opened fire on the pujari. The accused was in jail for four months in the regard and he was out of jail on bail. The documents related to the crime were asked from the UP police, Sharma added.
