Father of slain witness in case against Asaram accuses police of 'going slow'

Muzaffarnagar, Jul 21: The father of a slain witness in a rape case against Asaram today accused the local police of dragging its feet in the probe into the murder of his son.

"The probe is slow and police have failed to arrest the accused," alleged the father of Akhil Gupta (35), the prime witness in a rape case against the self-styled godman, who was killed on January 11 last year.

Kartik Haldar, the henchman of Asaram, had allegedly gunned down Gupta. He was arrested from Raipur in Chhattisgarh in March.

Niraj Kumar, Asaram's Nandgaon ashram in-charge, who had allegedly given shelter to Haldar and arranged weapons for him, was arrested from Saharanpur district on Tuesday and is lodged in Deoband jail.

Asked about the charge, SHO of New Mandi police station Rajnath Tyagi said they were making all efforts to take custody of the two accused.

Gupta was a cook and personal aide of Asaram, who has been in jail since August 2013, for allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old schoolgirl.

PTI