INDIAN SPIRITUAL GURU SENTENCED TO LIFE FOR RAPING 16-YEAR-OLD

Controversial Indian spiritual guru Asaram Bapu, who has millions of followers around the world, was handed a life sentence on Wednesday for raping a 16-year-old girl in 2013.

The judge sentenced Bapu at a jail in the city of Jodhpur, in India’s western state of Rajasthan, BBC News reported. Two of the guru’s aides were also convicted and sentenced 20 years in jail. Two others were acquitted.

Security was heightened amid possible protests by followers of the self-styled 77-year-old spiritual leader, BBC reported.

Bapu, who led 400 ashrams, or religious retreats, was convicted of raping a teenage devotee. The guru is also on trial for a separate case of rape in western Gujarat state, according to the BBC.

Rajendra Singh Charan, the victim’s family lawyer, speaks to the media outside the Central Jail following the court’s life imprisonment verdict to guru Asaram Bapu for sexually assaulting a minor girl, in Jodhpur on April 25, 2018. – An Indian guru with millions of followers was found guilty Wednesday of raping a teenage devotee on the pretext of ridding her of evil spirits, a lawyer for the victim’s family said. Asaram Bapu, 77, who leads hundreds of ashrams in India and overseas, was convicted at a closed jailhouse court hearing in Jodhpur, in western Rajasthan state where hundreds of police stood guard. The white-bearded guru, who urges followers to live a pious life free of sexual desires, has always denied raping the then 16-year-old in 2013 at an ashram in the city.SUNIL VERMA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Bapu’s legal team planned to challenge the verdict in India’s High Court, CNN reported.

The guru was arrested in 2013 after two of his followers alleged that the spiritual leader assaulted their daughter, according to BBC. Police said the followers had their daughter attend one of the guru’s spiritual lessons because she was “under the influence of some supernatural ghostly powers,” the outlet said. It was there where the teenage girl was raped and police said the guru threatened to kill her family if she discussed what happened.