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.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Former minister C M Ibrahim announces to launch new regional party for Karnataka
Kalaburagi: Two years after being expelled from the Janata Dal (Secular), former minister C.M. Ibrahim has announced that he will launch a new regional political party in Karnataka on January 24, reported Deccan Herald.
Speaking at a meeting organised by the Nava Karnataka Nirmana Andolana in Kalaburagi on Sunday, Ibrahim confirmed the birth of the new party.
The 77-year-old politician stated he would soon be meeting with other like-minded individuals to choose a symbol for the party.
ALSO READ: Veteran Congress leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa laid to rest with full state honours
Ibrahim emphasised that the organisation would be guided by the principles of 12th-century social reformer Basavanna and the architect of the Indian Constitution, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar.
A veteran politician, Ibrahim served as Union Civil Aviation Minister during the tenure of H.D. Deve Gowda as Prime Minister and later headed the Karnataka unit of the Janata Dal (Secular). He was expelled from the JD(S) in 2023 on charges of anti-party activities.
His exit from the party followed sharp differences over the JD(S) decision to ally with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). As the then state president of the JD(S), Ibrahim had publicly criticised the alliance, claiming it was finalised without his knowledge. He had also reportedly convened meetings of his supporters and expressed support for the INDIA bloc.
