The Central Bureau of Investigation booked religious leader Daati Maharaj for allegedly raping and having unnatural sex with an inmate of his ashram, PTI reported on Friday. On October 3, the Delhi High Court had ordered the investigation agency to take over the case from the Crime Branch.

The Crime Branch had filed a chargesheet against the accused on October 1, nearly three months after a First Information Report was filed against the religious leader on June 11. A 25-year-old woman had alleged that he had raped her at his ashrams in Delhi and Rajasthan, and had filed a complaint at the Fatehpur Beri police station against the preacher, his three brothers and a woman. She had also moved the Delhi High Court seeking an investigation by the CBI.

The religious leader had claimed that he was being falsely accused of the crimes.

The court, however, ordered the CBI to investigate the allegations while saying that the manner in which the Delhi Police carried out the probe “casts a shadow on the investigation”.