The controversial 80-year-old self-styled godman Asaram Bapu (Asumal Sirumalani Harpalani), who is serving life imprisonment in Central jail in Jodhpur, since 2014 on charges of raping a 16-year-old girl at his Manai Ashram near Jodhpur, is facing an imminent threat to his life if either released on bail or acquitted. This was revealed by sources who were close to Asaram, who said a concerted attempt to grab his multi-crore rupees property has begun among the trustees of his ashram and there were plans being hatched to eliminate him if he comes out and attempts to take charge once again.

The sources also said that this information has been shared with the Rajasthan as well as the  Gujarat police intelligence department. They added that although Asaram has been receiving treatment for COVID-19 at MDM Hospital, Jodhpur(Rajasthan) since May last and his condition has been described as stable, a group of trustees who were also his former aides are busy siphoning off as much money as they can and if Asaram is released from jail he may be bumped off. "Even Bapu knows that he has a threat to his life from those who are looting his weath, and as such, it is better that he remains safe in jail," he added.

Reports coming from the Trusts that were floated by Asaram state that a high level of irregularities to the tune of INR 280 crores have caused inconvenience to the trustees, who are now led to feel the once-powerful God-man should never be allowed to step out of prison.

Though official channels refused to deny or confirm the reports pouring in from persons close to the upper echelons of the Trust’s hierarchy, fact remains that Asaram’s properties and liquid cash possessions that ran into over Rs 10,000 crores have gotten into the hands of a new set of controllers after his incarceration.

Initially, it appeared that he was running an empire from behind bars, however, his prolonged absence from active management of the Trust has now precipitated a situation in which the massive assets and hordes of cash that he accumulated are now changing hands, said one person for his legal team who does not want to be named. 

He adds that threat perception is very much a reality that is even known to Asaram. "It might result in an unforeseen accident or orchestrated natural death that can be even under guise or COVID-19, we don't know but definitely there is a risk to his life.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Tuesday deferred the hearing on self-styled godman Asaram Bapu’s plea for interim bail to avail ayurvedic medical treatment in Uttarakhand till August 31, in which Asaram has asked for interim bail of two months for treatment. 

The matter was listed before the Supreme Court bench led by Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice V. Ramasubramanian. Senior Advocate Dr Manish Singhvi, who appeared for the state of Rajasthan, placed before the bench that this plea has become infructuous because Asaram is hospitalized and he has been given treatment at AIIMS.

Advocate Manish Tiwari, appearing for Asaram Bapu, submitted that there is a need to file a new vakalatnama and requested the matter to be heard on Friday. Then he requested the court to adjourn the matter and list it after the vacation.

The bench accepted the request of Tiwari and ordered the matter to be listed after Monday. The Supreme Court on June 4 had issued notice on a petition filed by convicted Asaram Bapu challenging a Rajasthan High Court order dismissing his plea for temporary suspension of sentence to avail ayurvedic medical treatment.

The State of Rajasthan had filed its reply to Asaram’s plea on June 7. In its reply has submitted that Asaram under the garb of his medical treatment, desiring to get his sentence suspended has made two attempts of this kind earlier also, in the year 2014 and 2016 and both previous times the Apex Court had created a committee of Doctors which had found that Aharam’s health condition is stable and was not as critical that it would require any surgical management of the disease.