An Indian spiritual guru with millions of followers has been jailed for life for raping a 16-year-old girl.



Asumal Sirumalani was also convicted on charges of criminal conspiracy and wrongful confinement, following a trial in Jodhpur, in western India.

The 77-year-old, known to his followers as Asaram Bapu or simply Bapuji (Bapu means father in Hindi), has 230 ashrams across India, the UK, the US, Kenya, Uganda, and Canada.

His followers have frequently visited him in jail in Jodhpur, where he has been detained for the last five years since the charges were first leveled against him.

Police forces in several parts of north and western India are on high alert, fearing riots in light of the judgment.



Last August, when another powerful Indian guru, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh Insan, was convicted of raping two women, his enraged followers killed 30 people and injured hundreds of others, destroyed property, and set vehicles ablaze in the town of Panchkula.



The verdict against Sirumalani comes at a time when India is outraged over the rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl.