Self-styled preacher Virender Deo Dixit wanted in rape cases has died, CBI tells court
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has learnt that self-styled preacher Virender Deo Dixit, who was wanted in cases of alleged rape and mistreatment of his disciples at his Rohini ashram, had died in 2023, officials said.
The agency has already informed a special court and will now seek abatement of the trial, they said.
Dixit, against whom an Interpol Blue Notice was issued in 2018, was allegedly on the run after the CBI registered cases against him on the orders of the Delhi High Court in 2017.
The CBI had been on his trail, with the search going up to Nepal. The agency had also announced a reward of Rs five lakh for anyone giving credible information about him.
The Hyderabad unit of the agency got the information about the death of Dixit in January 2025 which was confirmed recently, officials said on Monday, adding the court has been informed.
He was in his early eighties at the time of his demise in 2023, they said.
The High Court had directed the CBI to register cases on the allegations that he had confined several women at his ashram, Adhyatmik Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, in Rohini here.
The agency will now seek the abatement of the trial in the case in which it had filed several charge sheets, they said.
The agency had issued two Look Out Circulars on January 22, 2018 and February 22, 2019, against him. An Interpol Blue notice to locate him was also issued on the request of the CBI on March 26, 2018.
The Delhi High Court had on December 20, 2017, directed the CBI to investigate the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women in the ashram where they were kept in "animal-like" conditions behind metal doors in a "fortress" surrounded by barbed wire.
The CBI has taken over the probe into the three FIRs registered by Delhi Police at Vijay Vihar police station in Rohini by re-registering them, CBI officials had said.
Two cases were against Dixit for alleged rape and criminal intimidation, while one case is against unidentified people for allegedly obstructing the work of a high court-appointed committee which went to the ashram on December 19, 2017.
The court had asked the CBI to investigate the FIRs lodged in Delhi against the Rohini-based ashram and its founder-cum-spiritual head Dixit and the daily diary entries relating to complaints of missing girls, commission of sexual offences and even a case of suicide there.
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At UN, India flags concerns over targeting of vessels in Strait of Hormuz
United Nations (PTI): Targeting commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is "unacceptable", India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Parvathaneni Harish has said.
Harish's remarks at a special meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UNECOSOC) on safeguarding energy and supply flows came days after an India-flagged commercial vessel came under attack off the coast of Oman.
Omani authorities rescued all 14 crew members of the vessel sailing from Somalia, but it was not immediately known who carried out the strike.
In a post on X on Sunday, Harish said that at the UNECOSOC meeting, he shared India's approach to the recent energy and fertiliser crisis caused by the West Asia conflict.
"A combination of short-term and structural measures alongside international cooperation are essential to respond to the crisis," he said.
"Reiterated that targeting of commercial shipping, endangering civilian crew and impeding freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, are unacceptable. International law in this regard must be fully respected," he added.
The attack on the India-flagged vessel on May 13 took place amid the fragile situation in the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway close to the coast of Oman through which roughly one-fifth of the world's energy supplies pass.
It has been severely disrupted by the conflict in West Asia that started on February 28, with the US and Israel launching joint attacks on Iran, triggering retaliatory strikes.
Earlier, India had described the attack as "unacceptable".
At least two other Indian-flagged ships have been attacked since the conflict broke out.
According to the UNECOSOC website, the meeting, which took place on Friday, focused on “Safeguarding energy and supply flows: Supporting global development through international cooperation”.
