Lust, Lies & Loyalty

Illegal confinement of women and girls. Use of drugs. Sexual exploitation. Virendra Dev Dixit is the latest self-styled godman who has spun a web of deceit across his ashrams in Delhi and elsewhere in the country. Dixit, on the run after 48 minors were rescued from five of his eight Delhi ashrams alone during December-end, ran a sex racket in the garb of imparting spiritual knowledge, investigations have revealed. Raids are being conducted at other centres of his Adhyatamik Vidyalaya Ashram across the country. Illegal activities had been going on at many of these centres for several years.

Dixit, now in his 60s or 70s, is a resident of Kampil in Uttar Pradesh's Farrukhabad district, where he started a centre after his father's death in 1984. The ashram first came into news in 1998 when a couple from Kolkata lodged a complaint with the police about their daughter being confined there. The girl was found at the ashram in a police raid, and 11 followers were arrested. Since then various cases have been registered against Dixit in different parts of the country for illegal confinement and sexual assault of females, including minors.

In blind faith

Former Navy personnel Rabindranath Das, who says that Dixit has filed a court case to usurp his three-storey house in Kolkata's Salt Lake area, throws more light on Delhi's own Dera Sacha Sauda. "I met him at his maternal grandparents' house in Kampil in 1992. Dixit loves colourful clothes and food cooked in desi ghee."

Das was earlier associated with the Brahma Kumaris, a spiritual movement, but he was more impressed by Dixit, and started assisting him. Das signed some papers in blind faith and gave his Kolkata house to Dixit. In March, he asked Dixit to vacate the house following issues with inmates. He also noticed changes in Dixit's teachings. While a court case is going on Das now lives in a small garage in the same house. He does not eat food from the inmates of the ashram as he suspects that he would be killed anytime.

Dixit is said to have followers even outside India. One such case is of a PhD student from the United States (US), who came to live in the ashram on her own and does not want to return. Her parents in Hyderabad said they have met their daughter five-six times in the last two years. According to Das, there were people of nine religions staying at the Centre in his Kolkata house. "There were followers from the Philippines, Canada, United States and many other places. Even I used to travel across India to impart Dixit's teachings," Das said.

Inhuman treatment

The racket in Delhi came into light first in November 2017 when a girl from Rajasthan's Pilani went missing. Her family came here and created a hue and cry. In December, an NGO, Foundation for Social Empowerment, moved the Delhi High Court and alleged, on behalf of several parents, that girls are illegally kept inside an ashram in Rohini's Vijay Vihar area. A committee comprising Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Swati Maliwal, advocates Nandita Rao, Ajay Verma and Shalab Gupta, besides petitioner Seema Sharma of the NGO, went inside the ashram. After two hours of tussle, when the committee members managed to come out, their faces were pale. They appeared to have seen something very disturbing.

An inspection report was brought to the notice of the Acting Chief Justice of the High Court, Gita Mittal. It said that over 100 girls and women are being kept like animals in a fortress secured with metal doors and barbed wires. The report, submitted to the court in a sealed cover, said inmates had no privacy, even when they bathed, and they seemed drugged.

The team also seized a box of DVDs, syringes, medicines and several letters written to Dixit, accusing him of assaulting inmates. The High Court expressed shock and equated, without direct reference, the ashram to Baba Ram Rahim's Dera Sacha Sauda in Haryana's Sirsa. India's premier investigation agency, the CBI, is handling the case on the court's order.

Living in submission

The ashram in Rohini allegedly brainwashed followers into allowing their daughters to be "taught spirituality." But allegations that Dixit sexually assaulted girls and women are swirling. "He needs six girls every night between 10 pm and 5 am. There is a person assigned with the duty of sending girls at regular intervals. I have stayed there for several years. Initially, I was working there and was assigned the job of cleaning the premises. I was raped, and so I left. But my four daughters are inside," said Urmila of UP's Maharajganj.

Women and girls are made to sign samarpan patras (letters of submission). This makes them Dixit's property. They also write confession letters to confide in him about their past relationships or mistakes. Most inmates are uneducated and come from poor families. The mother of one such girl, Pooja Kushwaha, did not know how to write her name. Women who have grown old do not want to leave because there is apparently no future outside.

"He always says that the first physical impression on a female's body always stays. That is how he lured girls and proclaimed himself to be God," Urmila said. Funds come by way of donations from parents and relatives of inmates. One sevak from UP's Banda donated his property and contributed Rs 10 lakh to the ashram.

At the ashram in Rohini, there is a tunnel connecting the girls' and boys' centre. Dwarka, Karawal Nagar, and Nangloi are other locations where raids and recoveries have taken place. All 48 minors, who have been taken to a shelter home by the Child Welfare Committee, will be counselled. In the court, ashram authorities have denied allegations and said they are only imparting spiritual knowledge.

Complaints aplenty

It was Seema Sharma, of the Foundation for Social Empowerment, who first entered the ashram in Rohini on November 9 in search of Durgesh from Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu. Her parents had approached the NGO after ashram authorities refused to let them meet their daughter. Sharma, who was allowed inside after a lot of resistance, witnessed eerie sights, including an intoxicated man popping out of an almirah kept in the basement.

"Every five steps, there was a locked metal door. It is a five-storey building. One of the floors has a stadium-cum-hall with several stairs. The other floor was for girls. There were seven-eight rooms in a corridor and all were locked. There were no windows and no scope for ventilation," Sharma told DNA.

There was a box full of new syringes and condoms. Sharma managed to take pictures and videos which can be watched on dnaindia.com. In the garage, there were cars from several states, including Haryana and Maharashtra. Sharma spoke to Durgesh but there was no privacy. The girl insisted that she did not want to go back to her parents. But there was fear in her eyes.

Delhi Police spokesperson Madhur Verma said that the police had received complaints from parents of girls living in the Rohini ashram. He said that many inquiries were done under court supervision, and in many cases, girls had also given counter-complaints.

"In one case, the court even directed the police to provide protection to a girl living in the ashram, and her parents were directed not to take her out of there forcefully. In another case, an adult was given liberty to live in the ashram if she wishes to. So far, two FIRs have been registered against the ashram. Both cases are under investigation. The statements of victims have been recorded," Verma said.