Asaram hospitalised after complaining of chest pain
February 17, 2021 22:06
Self-styled 'godman' Asaram, who is serving a life
sentence in a rape case, was hospitalised on Tuesday night after he
complained of chest pain and breathing difficulty, officials said.
Superintendent of the MDM Hospital, MK Aseri, said that a team of the
cardiology department conducted ECG and other tests and Asaram is
currently under observation.
All the reports were normal. He has
been kept in the CCU under the observation of cardiologists. Repeat
tests will be conducted on Thursday, after which the team of doctors
would decide the next course of action, Aseri said.
Several
followers of Asaram gathered outside the MDM Hospital on Wednesday
morning, and police had to use force to prevent them from entering the
premises.
Jail authorities first took him to the MG Hospital for a
check-up.
Though the reports were found to be normal, he continued to
complain of chest pain, following which he was taken to MDM Hospital
amid tight security, the officials said.
According to senior
cardiologist Sanjeev Sanghvi, Asaram has been kept under observation due
to comorbidities.
He said that he had an angiography long back at
AIIMS.
If there was a need for angiography again, we would proceed
subject to his consent, he said.
Asaram was sentenced to jail till
death in April 2018 for sexually assaulting a teenager in his ashram.
Two other convicts are out on bail following the suspension of their
sentence.
The teenager had said in her complaint that Asaram had
called her to his ashram in Manai area near Jodhpur and raped her on the
night of August 15, 2013.
The 16-year-old girl from Shahjahanpur in
the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh was studying at Asaram's
ashram in Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh.
Asaram, like the two other
co-accused, had challenged his sentence in the high court in July 2018.
The next hearing in the matter is on March 9.
He, however, has not
yet moved any plea seeking suspension of his sentence. -- PTI