YET TO SHOW UP: The Ashram has not appeared for any hearing in the executive magistrate court.

Pedhmala: In Pedhmala, Gujarat an RTI application has revealed how the Asaram Bapu Ashram forged documents to take over fertile land.
Asaram Bapu’s son Narayan Sai owns 108 hectares of fertile land at Pedhmala in Gujarat. However, a local social worker Ramesh Choksi says the land was bought illegally.

“The collector asked us for evidence, which we provided him with last year,” says Choksi. Using the Right to Information Act, Choksi had enough evidence for the collector to order an inquiry.

The documents reveal that Asaram, his wife, son and mother were issued farmer certificates by a revenue officer in Abdasa in Kutch district in April 2004 to allow them to buy land at Pedhmala. But Choksi says the farmer certificates are fake.

“We asked for information about the certificate in an RTI. The Revenue Officer said he had not signed it,” says Choksi. A letter from the Revenue Officer in Abdasa - which is in CNN-IBN’s possession - says the certificates were forged and not issued at Abdasa at all. While this genuine farmer certificate is stamped with an English seal, Asaram’s certificate has a Gujarati rubber stamp.

The Revenue Officer’s signatures also differ from genuine certificates. The disputed land was legally purchased by Narayan Sai by proving himself, on paper, to be a farmer. However, his very identity as a farmer is now under dispute and is currently being investigated by the executive magistrate.

On the disputed farmland, there is now this sprawling building. Villagers say the Ashram has even encroached on land reserved for cattle grazing.

A villager, Kaka says, “They were not allowing farmers to go with their animals on the hill.” The Ashram has not yet appeared for any hearing at the inquiry in the executive magistrate court, but it says that’s not for lack of evidence on their side.

PRO Asaram Bapu Ashram Motera, Uday Sanghani says, “We will definitely approach the court. It’s not we don’t have documents and so we we are not approaching the court.”
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