Andhra Pradesh: 60-year-old seer arrested for molesting orphan at ashram
Paramananda, a 60-year-old ‘seer’ who runs an ashram in Visakhapatnam, was arrested for allegedly molesting a girl at the ashram, the police said on Tuesday (June 20).
Paramananda runs the Ramananda Jnanananda ashram at Venkoji Nagar in MVP Colony area, which came under his authority through heredity. The ashram has been in existence since 1955.
“The seer used to call two children (girls) who are around 14 years old after 9 pm on the pretext of getting his legs pressed but used to do all kinds of manhandling,” Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Trivikram Varma told PTI, confirming molestation charges.
A few days ago, the girl managed to escape from the ashram and boarded the Tirumala Express train and reached Vijayawada, where some people helped her contact a child protection official, Varma said.
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Later, the girl was escorted to a Disha (women protection) police station in Vijayawada, where she lodged a complaint and subsequently Paramananda was arrested in the port city. Incidentally, Paramananda himself had lodged a missing complaint on June 15 at MVP Colony police station to avoid suspicion.
Meanwhile, the police are talking to other children from the ashram to elicit information on the antecedents of the arrested man to know if such incidents had also occurred earlier.
In the event of such a scenario, the commissioner said that all those cases will be clubbed together into one case for further action. The police have registered a case under Sections 505 and 506 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The ashram has 12 children and six staff members. Out of the 12, eight are boys and four girls. Eleven of the 12 children are from Araku tribal area, while the girl who lodged the complaint came from Gandepally area in Rajamahendravaram.
Varma said that the victim first joined the Gandepally Sadhu Matham in Rajamahendravaram back in 2016 as she lost her parents and was later shifted to Paramananda’s ashram.
(With Agency inputs)
