The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday told the Delhi High Court that it has issued a lookout circular against Virender Dev Dixit, the founder of an institution that is under investigation for alleged sexual assault and illegal confinement of girls and women at its ashrams, PTI reported. In January, the court had asked the agency to submit a report about the whereabouts of Dixit.

On Monday, the bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar also observed that the Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in North Delhi’s Rohini locality was not a university as defined under the University Grants Commission Act. It has no legal status as it is neither a registered society nor a corporate entity, said the bench.

The lawyer representing the ashram, however, argued that the UGC has no jurisdiction over it as it is run by god. The court will take up the matter again on February 8.

Scores of girls and women have been rescued from ashrams of Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya in parts of Delhi and Uttar Pradesh’s Farrukhabad since December 20, 2017, when the High Court had asked the CBI to inspect the institute’s Rohini premises.

Parents of three girls and the NGO Foundation for Social Empowerment had moved the High Court, claiming that many young women were raped at the ashram and several had committed suicide but no case was ever registered.