Asaram withdraws plea for bail and suspension of sentence

Jodhpur: Jailed self-styled godman Asaram on Tuesday withdrew a plea for bail and suspension of sentence awarded to him for raping a girl in his ashram in 2013. The application was withdrawn after a division bench comprising Justices Sandeep Mehta and Vineet Kumar Mathur told the defence counsel to proceed with arguments or "the court would pass an order accordingly".

"Seeing the stand of the court, his counsel decided to withdraw the application with a prayer of 'not press' and the court dismissed the petition," said Prosecution Counsel P C Solanki.

"We have withdrawn the application for suspension of sentence and will proceed with the arguments on an appeal against the sentence," a defence counsel said. The appeal will be heard after four weeks.

Last month, Asaram had sought interim bail to attend to his ailing wife Laxmi Devi, but the court rejected the plea.

A Jodhpur court had convicted Asaram and two of his associates in a 2013 rape case. He is currently serving a life term sentence in the Jodhpur central jail.