Four police teams were sent to arrest Sai

New Delhi, Dec 4 (IANS) Four teams of Delhi Police's Crime Branch were deputed to nab Narayan Sai, the son of controversial spiritual leader Asaram Bapu, arrested in a Haryana village Tuesday night.

"We got an information that Ramesh, the driver of Narayan Sai, was in Ludhiana (Punjab). On the basis of our assumption that Sai might also be there, we deputed four teams," said Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Ravindra Yadav Wednesday.

A total of 30 policemen were divided into four teams and they left Delhi in nine police vehicles for four separate places in Ludhiana, said an officer of the raiding team.

"The first team left around 2 p.m. Sunday, the second Tuesday afternoon while the third and fourth teams moved from Delhi around 6 p.m. Tuesday," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch), Kumar Gyanesh told IANS.

The officer said an initial information came that Sai, 40, was hiding in a Ludhiana cow shed where he was residing for the past 10 days, but he left half an hour before the police team reached the place.

"After chasing Sai over around 200 km, we nabbed him around 10.15 p.m. Tuesday along with his follower Hanuman, driver Ramesh and a juvenile near a petrol pump at Pipli village in Kurukshetra, Haryana," said the officer.

When arrested, Sai, to hide his identity, was wearing a saffron headgear, a T-shirt, pants and a jacket worn by many Sikhs in Punjab.

Asaram's son, moving from one city to another over close to two months, was in an SUV with an Uttar Pradesh registration number.

He was in Jaipur, Rajasthan, when the FIR was registered against him, the police officers said.

He then left for Agra and came to Delhi. He stayed for a week in an ashram at Naimi Saran, Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh, where he changed his looks by getting clean shaved.

He then reached Haridwar through Greater Noida, where he stayed for 10 days in an apartment. He briefly put up in Thane (Maharashtra), Gujarat, Udaipur (Rajasthan) and Rajokri (Delhi), the police officers said.

As Sai was on the run, the Surat police announced a reward of Rs.5 lakh. His accomplice Hanuman, named in the police complaint, also carries a reward of Rs.1 lakh.