Mumbai, Jun 12: The Mumbai police “rescued” 27 persons, including 12 minor boys, from an Ashram in Kandivli East late on Friday night.

According to the police, the two main patrons of the Ashram were arrested and booked on charges of exploiting a trafficked person and several sections of the Juvenile Justice Act.

The arrested have been identified as Devendra Dubey and Bhagwandas Tiwari, originally from Varanasi.

They had moved to Mumbai in 2014 to set up the Ashram.

The Kandivli Police were approached by the brother-in-law of one of the rescued minors on Friday.

He informed the police of the ‘harsh treatment’ of inmates inside the Ashram and the distress call that he had
allegedly received from the minor.

“A minor inside the Ashram contacted his sister in Surat and told her of the ill treatment and torture that he and 26 others were being subjected to. We acted on the tip-off and raided the Ashram on Friday night,” said Dilip Yadav, senior police inspector, Samta Nagar.

According to the police, the priests reached out to their disciples in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, who sent others to live with the priests and learn religious rituals.

“Dubey promised those who came Rs 1,000 per day but never paid anyone. The ones rescued said that they never intended to come to the Ashram but their respective villagers coerced them to come to Mumbai to learn the rituals. All 27 persons have complained of being tortured in a similar manner. They were hardly fed and made to stand on one foot for most of the day,” said a senior police officer.

“All the minors have been shifted to the children’s home in Dongri and most of the men who were held captive have been released. We have the police custody of Dubey and Tiwari till Monday. We are making inquiries to check the extent of their crime,” Yadav added.