BASANT RAWAT.

▮ Identity sealed · POCSO §23

Journalist, The Telegraph

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

“Basant Rawat is a senior journalist with *The Telegraph* who provided extensive early reporting on Asaram Bapu's rise and early life. Rawat's reporting exposed Asaram's caste background, his expulsion from Lilashah's ashram, and his split from traditional spiritual groups.”

Basant Rawat is an experienced senior journalist based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, who has covered the western region of India for several decades, primarily reporting for the national daily newspaper *The Telegraph*. Rawat was one of the first mainstream journalists to write detailed investigative reports on Asaram Bapu's early life, looking past the spiritual persona to document the godman's origins and his rise to prominence in the Ahmedabad region.

Rawat's investigative reporting exposed Asaram's caste background, his family's migration from Sindh, Pakistan, to Ahmedabad after the 1947 Partition, and his initial struggles as a coal seller and tea vendor. More significantly, Rawat uncovered the details of Asaram's expulsion from the ashram of his spiritual mentor, Lilashahji, in Gandhidham during the mid-1960s. Rawat's reports showed that Asaram was expelled for violating ashram discipline and subsequently established his own independent, commercialized spiritual project.

During the high-profile trials and public protests in 2013, Rawat's early articles were widely cited by other national media outlets as foundational research on the cult's history. He reported on the establishment of the Motera ashram on encroached land along the Sabarmati riverbed and the cult's strategy of targeting vulnerable, lower-middle-class populations to build a loyal follower base. His reporting provided critical context on how the cult used local political support to protect its properties.

Rawat continues to report on Gujarat politics, social issues, and legal affairs from Ahmedabad. His journalistic contributions to the coverage of Asaram Bapu are recognized as some of the most detailed and objective accounts of the godman's early history, helping to demystify the cult's origins. His work remains a key resource for researchers and journalists studying religious movements in Gujarat.