Ajay Pal Lamba says that Asaram’s rape case is the most high profile case of his career which he was handed over to him

Ajay Pal Lamba says that Asaram’s rape case is the most high profile case of his career which he was handed over to him on August 20, 2013, that entailed relentless media spotlight and killing of witnesses. The most disturbing of all is the threats to policemen by the followers of Asaram.

He was the Deputy Commissioner of police (DCP), Jodhpur West when Asaram was arrested. He was overseeing the investigation in the rape case against self-styled god man Asaram and received more than 2000 threatening letters and hundreds of phone calls.

Ajay Pal Lamba

A 2005 batch Indian Police Service officer Ajay Pal Lamba also says that in the letters it was mentioned that they would kill my family if anything happened to Asaram. My phone would not stop ringing and I stopped receiving calls from unknown numbers. The letters stopped only when I shifted to Udaipur.

His wife would not step out the house and he also stopped sending his daughter to school for a while as he is the Superintendent of Police in Jodhpur now. The family of the rape victim filed the complaint in Delhi in August 2013 after which Asaram was charged with rape, sexual harassment, trafficking, wrongful confinement, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy.

Ajay Pal Lamba

The case was transferred to Jodhpur and in over 10 weeks first charge sheet is filed against Asaram. He also shares all the process done to arrest the Asaram. According to him, the trickiest part was picking up Asaram from his ashram in Indore as well as ensuring his supporters don’t create a law and order situation in Jodhpur and establishing evidence against him as the first information report was lodged five days after the incident and when Asaram is failed to appear before the team of policeman then his arrest warrant was issued.

He also says that when his 11 member team went to deliver a summon notice to the Asaram at his ashram in Madhya Pradesh, they faced a mob of about 8,000 people. The team was shoved and it took them 10 hours just to be able to deliver that piece of paper.

case registered

The media coverage discouraged the morale of the supporters to an extent and police was able to control of the situation in Indore and entered the ashram on 30th August, 2013 to arrest Asaram and after that he is booked under sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, and the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.