New Delhi, Apr 3 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has announced Rs 5 lakh reward for giving information about the whereabouts of self-styled godman Virendra Dev Dixit, who is accused of illegally confining several girls and women and raping them at his ashram here, the agency said on Wednesday.

Dixit is on the run since the Delhi Police registered an FIR against him in December 2017. The CBI took over the case and lodged three FIRs against Dixit in January last year following the Delhi High Court's order.

The agency had also issued a lookout circular against Dixit in February last year.

Dixit's Adhyatmik Vishwa Vidyalaya was in the news in December 2017 after the Delhi Police, along with the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW), rescued around 40 women from there. Dixit owns the ashram located in Delhi's Rohini area.

On December 20, 2017, the Delhi High Court had directed the CBI to investigate the alleged illegal confinement of girls and women in the ashram where they were kept in "animal-like" conditions behind metal doors in a "fortress" surrounded by barbed wire.