New Delhi: Up until 2015, Dr Santosh Rupa Dumpala, then 33 years old, was on an enviable professional journey — having earned a PhD degree in nanotechnology from a university in the US in 2011, she was living the proverbial American dream, teaching in the country.
However, a backache led her back to India that year — to an ashram in Delhi’s Rohini with rickety stairs, dark and narrow passages and metal grills on the windows.
Under the aegis of ‘Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya’, the ashram was run by self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit.
In December 2017, the ashram, one of seven in Delhi and among many such others in India, found itself in the eye of a storm.
An inspection team appointed by the Delhi High Court visited the ashram and detailed “horrible” living conditions for over 100 girls and women residing on the premises, housed in “animal-like conditions with no privacy even for bathing”.
Since Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya first came under national scrutiny, Dixit has been absconding.
Over the years, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Delhi government, Delhi Police, University Grants Commission (UGC), North Delhi Municipal Corporation, and a court-appointed committee supervised by former police officer Kiran Bedi have all tried to either nab Dixit or bring down his ashrams.
The CBI has filed chargesheets against Dixit in two rape cases. It issued a lookout notice for him in January 2018 and February 2019, a blue corner notice through Interpol in March 2018, and non-bailable warrants through a Rohini court in April 2018 and January 2019.
And while Dixit doesn’t show up for the authorities, he continues to appear online on YouTube for his followers, imparting teachings on the Bhagavad Gita and ‘Murlis’ or “Godly directions”.
The ashrams of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya across India continue to house women inmates, and Santosh Rupa Dumpala and several other women continue to have faith in Dixit. In documents submitted in court, they maintain that they are “voluntarily residing” at the ashrams which have “an atmosphere that is pure, peaceful and congenial”.
Dumpala stated to the CBI that she was suffering from intense back pain when she visited the ashram of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in Rohini in July 2015. She has never looked back at her old life and is now backache-free, she claimed.
Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya has, over the years, continued to pursue its aim of “transforming the world in general and Bharat in particular…where there is only one religion, one kingdom, one King and one clan”, according to a response it filed in court.
While the larger questions over the functioning and funding of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya ashrams remain unanswered, the institute has stated in court that it believes in remaining independent, “just like Muslim basic schools (Madrse) and many organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh carrying out their activities independently”.
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‘Lord Krishna and his gopis’
It all began on 12 December, 2017, when an NGO, Foundation for Social Empowerment, filed a PIL in the Delhi High Court, highlighting “various shady and illegal activities going on at Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya under the garb of providing a spiritual path to enlightenment”.
It claimed that “in reality, the so-called ashrams…have become a jail of sorts where women (both minor and major) are being detained and exploited”.
The PIL cited several FIRs, including rape FIRs, filed by some former inmates and families of current inmates against Dixit. It stated that “women are being subjected to a lot of indoctrination at the hands of ashram officials which portrays that the head of the organisation (Dixit) is Lord Krishna and places the women inmates in the category of his ‘Gopis’”.
The court acted swiftly in response to the PIL.
On 19 December, 2017, taking note of the potential “danger to the lives and limbs of several girls stated to be illegally confined” in the ashram, the court directed an inspection team to visit the premises of the Rohini ashram the same day and videograph the inspection.
The inspection team comprised advocates Nandita Rao and Ajay Verma, representatives from the Delhi Commission for Women, and the Deputy Commissioner of Police, nominated by the Commissioner of Police.
The status report filed by the team revealed a state of affairs that shook the country.
It stated that the inspection team observed a building with multiple doors with locks, housing over 100 girls in “animal-like conditions with no privacy”. It submitted that, during the inspection, passages in the building were so narrow and low in height that the team had to bend to pass through. There were metal doors at short intervals, and the women were kept in dark spaces with metal grills, without sunlight.
The team also suspected that several of the inmates appeared to be under the influence of some kind of drug or narcotic, and spoke of a large amount of medication and injections lying in the ashram, according to the report.
The same month, advocate Verma and chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women Swati Maliwal visited another ashram of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in Delhi’s Palam Colony.
The inspection report, seen by ThePrint, stated that the team “found objectionable literature posted on the wall with obscene words”.
According to court records, the Vijay Vihar ashram also had a separate wing for male inmates.
Two rape chargesheets
In December 2017, the high court also directed the CBI to constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the cases against Dixit.
The CBI then registered three cases involving Dixit and Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in January 2018, and constituted an SIT. According to various responses by the CBI in the high court, it has filed chargesheets in all the three cases.
The first chargesheet has been filed under Section 376(2)(n) (repeated rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against Dixit, and under Section 109 (abetment) read with Section 376(2)(n) against one Gyaneshwar Mali.
The second chargesheet has been filed against Dixit for rape. Dixit has been declared a proclaimed offender in these two cases.
The third case pertains to alleged manhandling of the inspection team which had visited the Rohini ashram on 19 December, 2017. The team told the court that they were “obstructed” by certain members of the ashram and, therefore, an FIR was lodged “in regard to the violence faced by the committee”.
The matter was referred to Samadhan (Delhi High Court mediation and conciliation centre) through an order passed in July 2018 by the court.
The settlement agreement between the ashram and its members on one side and advocate Rao on the other confirmed that a scuffle on 19 December was a result of a “misunderstanding” and an unconditional apology was tendered to Rao.
Rao accepted the apology on the condition that the ashram bring out guidelines for its functioning.
All parties then filed an application before the high court in September 2018, demanding quashing of the FIR in view of the settlement arrived between them. However, the CBI “vehemently opposed” the quashing of the third FIR on the basis of the settlement agreement.
It told the court in October 2018 that it had already filed a chargesheet against 59 ashram members in regard to the alleged violence, for criminal conspiracy and rioting.
However, a lawyer familiar with the case told ThePrint that the committee chose to settle the case because “the last thing that they wanted was for any of these women to go to jail.”
‘We are the children of one father’
On 20 December, 2017, the high court also asked the chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee to visit the ashram to check if there were minors there and take steps in accordance with the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015.
Reports filed by the committee in the high court, seen by ThePrint, stated that when a CWC member visited the Rohini ashram, she found a total of “163 inmates” residing on the premises. They added that out of these, 41 inmates “looked minor on appearance”, and were sent for medical examination. The CWC order also said that after the medical examination, the children were to be placed at a child care institute in Delhi.
According to status reports filed by the CBI in court in 2018, the 41 girls were found to be aged over 18 years.
In October last year, Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya told the high court that “almost all” the 41 girls, after being released by the CWC, “joined Adhyatmik Vidyalaya once again and are pursuing their spiritual studies”.
Complying with another high court order, a team of medical and mental health experts from the Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences and AIIMS visited the Rohini ashram on 30 May, 2018. The team screened and interviewed each of the “162 inmates” in groups as well as individually.
Their report, seen by ThePrint, said that in individual interviews, all the inmates “in a mechanical manner” said “we are children of one father (Shiv Baba). We have come to unite to save the world from biggest disaster which is approaching; for which we need to maintain sanctity”.
The report added: “They individually asserted that people across the world will ultimately follow them for this divine cause.”
Overall, the report ruled out any behavioural oddities, signs of psychological distress or psychiatric disorders, and said that nobody was living at the ashram under coercion. However, it added: “The residents as a group had overvalued ideas (religious belief system) which could be attributed to their long-term association with the organisation.”
Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya has made similar claims in responses filed in the high court. For instance, in one response of October 2022, it explained its aims and objectives.
One stated aim pertained to “transforming the world in general and Bharat in particular from the Hell (World that gives sorrow) to Heaven (Happy World) where the political power & religious power is in one hand and where there is only one religion, one kingdom, one King and one clan”.
In a response filed before the high court in January 2018, Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya also attached affidavits of 71 spinsters — all of them attesting to the fact that they were voluntarily living in the ashram and were all aged over 18 years.
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YouTube videos from UK, Bulgaria
The Delhi High Court constituted yet another six-member committee in April 2022 to examine “all the establishments (of the ashram)…in the NCT of Delhi”.
When the new committee, formed under the supervision of former Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi, visited the Rohini ashram last year, it was confronted with a small room on the third floor of the building.
The inmates allegedly “resisted the inspection” of this room, according to the panel’s September 2022 report, seen by ThePrint.
Inside, the team stated, they found around 300-350 mobile phones, batteries and chargers. One of the inmates was in the room with two laptops. The room also had a locked cupboard, which had to be opened with the assistance of the local police. Inside, the committee found another big batch of new mobile phones.
When the inmate in the room was asked to switch on the laptop, the team found a lecture delivered by Dixit in 2021 on the laptop. The committee claimed that in another Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya ashram in Nangloi, a lecture delivered by Dixit in August 2022 was found playing on the TV on 31 August, 2022.
The report recommended: “The inmates are continuously receiving the latest discourses of Baba Virendra Dev Dixit digitally. Despite being absconded, affairs of the ashram are being managed by him. An investigation be directed regarding the chain of communication to get hold of the absconded Baba.”
Raising objections against the recommendations of the committee, Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya told the court in October last year that the inmates and spiritual followers did not know Dixit’s whereabouts, and that they accessed his “latest discourses” from YouTube channel ‘AWAJ 2018 Adhyatmik Gyan’ and ‘Vasudhaiv kutumbkam’.
A look at the two channels showed that Dixit has been appearing for his followers through a continuous supply of videos on YouTube.
The high court’s most recent order passed on 31 May this year also noted that Dixit was regularly uploading videos himself or through his followers. It was highlighted that several of these videos had been “uploaded from March 2018 onwards on at least six YouTube channels and social media handles, from countries including the UK, Bulgaria and Nepal”.
The court suggested that the CBI initiate the process for issuance of Letter of Requests under Section 166A of the Code of Criminal Procedure to the UK, Bulgaria and Nepal.
Section 166A allows a criminal court in India to issue such a letter of request to any court or authority in a foreign country to examine and get evidence from anybody abroad. This can be done if the investigating authorities find out during probe that evidence related to the offence may be available in a place outside India.
‘Spiritual family, not an institute’
Since December 2017, several authorities have tried to cast a net on Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya, targeting its name as well as the buildings housing its followers.
In January 2018, the UGC issued a show-cause notice to the organisation, asking why “Spiritual University alias Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya” should not be included in the list of fake universities.
In a response filed in February 2018, Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya asserted that the “UGC lacks jurisdiction in Spiritual University”.
It explained: “UGC has power to recommend any University the measures necessary for the reforms and improvement in University Education. It is submitted that the followers of Spiritual University have strong spiritual faith that the education in this university is being delivered by the Supreme Soul i.e. God himself.”
In February 2018, in response to an objection, the high court asserted that Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya could not use the term ‘Vishwa Vidyalaya’ or ‘University’ in any manner, and barred it from using the terms in its name.
In May 2018, the organisation told the court that in compliance with the court’s February order, it had removed the word ‘Vishwa’ from its name, and that “the spiritual family is now being called ‘Adhyatmik Vidyalaya’”.
However, Adhyatmik Vidyalaya also challenged the high court order in the Supreme Court in July 2018. This appeal is still pending.
On 20 December, 2017, the high court had also directed the Commissioner of North Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) to investigate the ashram buildings.
An engineer from NDMC visited the Rohini building on 28 January, 2018.
His report, dated 3 February, 2018, seen by ThePrint, stated that the property was situated in an “unauthorised colony… where no building plans have been sanctioned for any construction”.
The NDMC then passed orders for sealing as well as demolition of the building which, the order stated, “is like a cage which had given rise to safety hazard.”
The order has, however, been challenged by Adhyatmik Vidyalaya in a Rohini court.
In April last year, the high court directed the ashram to comply with the provisions of Women’s and Children’s Institutions (Licensing) Act, 1956, and get registered under the Act.
This order for complying with the provisions was challenged by the organisation in the Supreme Court, which rejected its petition on 25 July last year.
However, the Delhi High Court order wasn’t complied with by Adhyatmik Vidyalaya till October last year, according to another court order. In October 2022, the organisation told the high court that the 1956 law was not applicable to it since its ashram was a “spiritual family and not an institute”.
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‘Spiritual practices relieved backache’
After Santosh Rupa Dumpala joined the Rohini ashram in July 2015, she wrote a letter to the police in Hyderabad and Delhi, intimating them about her whereabouts and requesting protection from any harassment from her parents.
The letter, seen by ThePrint, claimed that her parents wanted to get her married and “they don’t like my voluntary choice of living spiritual life”.
According to a high court order passed in January 2018, the police were told by the inspection team (of 19 December, 2017) that they had found bags full of written complaints by ashram inmates, in almost identical language, against their close family members.
In her February 2018 statement to the CBI — seen by ThePrint — Santosh Rupa, now Prajapati Brahma Kumari Santosh Rupa, said that she was suffering from acute backache in June 2015, from which no medicine could relieve her.
“…during PhD, I was facing many types of stress which caused to increase backache. After consultancy with Naturopath Doctor and on his suggestion I started spiritual practices with Brahma Kumaris (spiritual movement) due to which I got relief from backache (sic),” she stated. Adhyatmik Vidyalaya claims to be an offshoot or a splinter group from the spiritual organisation, the Brahmakumaris.
However, since 2015, her parents — retired Food Corporation of India inspector Ramreddy Dumpala and homemaker Meenavathi Dumpala — have been approaching authorities, ranging from the local police in Rohini to the Ministry of Home Affairs, alleging that their daughter has been illegally confined in the Adhyatmik Vidyalaya ashram.
In April 2022, the parents filed an application in the Delhi High Court, demanding Santosh Rupa’s immediate release from the ashram.
They also demanded that the ashram be probed for “women trafficking, illegal confinement”, verification that the money in Santosh Rupa’s bank account was transferred to the ashram, medical tests on Santosh Rupa and other women on the premises to check influence of drugs on them, as well as strict action against the ashram for “keeping women in an illegal building without basic amenities, under surveillance, in unhealthy conditions”.
In the same application, the parents have also relied on dictionary meanings of “overvalued ideas” and have demanded that they should be allowed to provide treatment to Santosh Rupa for this condition.
The bigger questions
The ashrams of Adhyatmik Vidyalaya continue to run in Delhi as well as other states like Uttar Pradesh. The same was noted on 31 May this year by a Delhi High Court bench of chief justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Subramonium Prasad.
Meanwhile, the larger questions over the functioning and the funding of the ashrams remain unanswered.
The high court has asserted in its latest order that “the CBI is certainly required to investigate who is the owner of the ashrams, from which account the funds have been released towards payment of rent to the owners of the ashram and the documents on the basis of which the properties have been let out to the residents of the ashram”.
The matter will next be heard on 12 September, and the CBI has been asked to file a fresh status report before that date.
As for Santosh Rupa, her parents continue to fight the legal battle for her “custody” in the high court. However, lawyers involved in the case are faced with a dilemma.
While the parents continue to make allegations ranging from indoctrination to drug abuse of their daughter and other women at the ashram, the court is often reminded of the fact that all these women are adults.
The women have also filed several affidavits and undertakings in court claiming that they are living in the ashram “voluntarily” and “happily”. In court, Adhyatmik Vidyalaya has claimed that the “management of Spiritual Centres is handled by all the female inmates collectively”.
“These women seem perfectly mentally sound… It may be a way of life we can’t associate with,” a lawyer involved in the litigation told ThePrint. Another lawyer added, “This is the same Article 21 quandary that we have faced before, with other similar cases. At the end of the day, these girls are major.”
However, the lawyer highlighted that there are other “larger issues” that might need more focus. “Like who is funding the outfit? Is it really the case that each one of them gets money and pools it together and that this is some kind of a bohemia?”
Santosh Rupa turned 40 in March this year. Two years ago, she had told the high court that the motive of her parents was “to obstruct (her) spiritual path”.
Her response to the court, seen by ThePrint, asserted that she had joined Adhyatmik Vidyalaya after getting “influenced by the spiritual teachings given”.
She has now “decided to devote her whole life for spiritual services”, it added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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