Asaram has company

Shiva, an aide of Asaram, was sent to nine days judicial custody by a court in a case of abetting an alleged sexual assault by the spiritual guru on a minor at his ashram last month.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Chandrakala Jain sent Shiva to jail till September 16, according to a police officer. Shiva, who worked as the main caretaker for Asaram, 72, was arrested on September 2. "Shiva was interrogated for three days when he was in police custody," he said.

According to the girl, who studied at Asaram's ashram at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh and stayed in a hostel there, she was sexually assaulted by Asaram in a room at his ashram near Jodhpur on the pretext of exorcism on August 15.

Shiva threatened the girl not to disclose the incident, the officer said. The girl's family, from Uttar Pradesh, were among followers of Asaram at the time of the incident, police said.

Asaram has been booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and the Indian Penal Code. He has denied the allegations. The spiritual guru was arrested from Indore September 1 and brought to Rajasthan.