A Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court in Uttar Pradesh's Prayagraj on Saturday directed the police to file a sexual exploitation case against Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati and his disciple Swami Mukundanand Giri.
The complaint against the religious leader was filed under Section 173(4) by Shakumbhari Peethadhishwar Ashutosh Brahmachari Maharaj, who has urged strict action. It will now be forwarded to the Jhunsi police station for further action.
This comes after the video statements of two minor complainants were recorded in the court on February 13, and the court took formal cognisance of the police report, an ANI report said.
Ashutosh Brahmachari, associated with the Shri Krishna Janmabhoomi Mukti Nirman Trust, has also alleged that the Jhunsi police had refused to file a case against the religious leader and his disciple, due to which he appealed to the POCSO court on January 28.
Brahmachari has also claimed that he had a CD containing evidence of the minor children being allegedly exploited at the ashram of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, and handed it over to the court.
This adds to the controversy around the religious leader, after he ended a 10-day sit-in protest on January 28 over allegedly being denied from taking a ritual dip in the Sangam during the Magh Mela period.
"Today we are returning with a sense of emptiness and a heavy heart that we had never imagined,” the seer said, adding that the issue at Prayagraj had "shaken his inner self".
The dispute erupted 10 days before the end of his protest, at which point Swami Avimukteshwaranand's palanquin to the Sangam—on the auspicious occasion of Mauni Amavasya—was stopped.
The Mela administration then alleged that the seer and his supporters then broke a barricade on a pontoon bridge nearby and moved towards the ghats, which had caused serious crowd management issues for the police.