‘Godman’ kidnaps woman disciple

GHAZIABAD - A 40-year-old self-styled godman allegedly kidnapped a 27-year-old disciple from her house here last month, police said Saturday.

Police registered a case Saturday and initiated a hunt for the self-styled godman Anup Kumar Sahai, alias Swami Ji, for kidnapping Priyanka Srivastava alias Dolly, an MBA graduate, who was pursuing her doctoral studies.

“Priyanka had gone missing from her house in Sector-7, Raj Nagar, since Feb 15. The family claimed she was kidnapped by Anup,” Rajesh Chaudhary, inspector in-charge of the Kavi Nagar police station, said.

Priyanka’s mother Sudha Srivastava said that her daughter had gone to buy milk but did not return home.

“The swami and his elder brother Ashutosh Sahai were involved in the act,” Chaudhary added.

According to the police, Sahai moved around in a car with a red beacon and claimed to be a member of the central advisory committee of the labour ministry as well as director of the Center for Excellence in Vedic Vangmay Research and Development Foundation. He also ran a trust named ‘Saptrishi Foundation’ and a ‘Dayanand Ashram’ in Rishikesh.

Sahai was staying in a flat in Sector-12, Pratap Vihar in Ghaziabad.

He was married and had a seven-year-old daughter but both his wife and daughter were staying at his mother’s home in Gorakhpur, police said.

“Sahai said he wanted to marry my daughter and was constantly pressurizing us. He even threatened to kidnap her if we did not allow the marriage,” Sudha Srivastava said.

“When we called on his mobile, it was switched off. On Feb 11, he had sent a woman named Poonam Sharma who forcibly entered my house, claiming to be from an NGO and started talking to my daughter after taking her to a corner,” she said.

“Since then, he has been calling us from different mobile numbers and sending us mobile texts stating that the girl was with him and that he would marry her soon. Priyanka had been complaining about harassment by him,” she said.

“She once revealed that Sahai had threatened to eliminate her when she refused to operate a bank account which had questionable transactions but continued to operate it under duress,” she added.

“After my husband died in 2004, Priyanka went into depression and underwent treatment from several doctors. I was advised to refer her to Sahai as he was good at spiritual remedies,” she said.

“He started coming to our house and eyed her with wrong intentions. He insisted that he wanted to get married to Priyanka for which he promised to give Rs.50 lakh-Rs.1 crore to her,” she added.