The arrest came three days after the filing of the case, originally registered in Bilaspur, were brought to Alwar by the investigating officer.

Police on Saturday arrested self-styled godman Kaushalendra Prapannacharya Falahari Maharaj in Alwar on charges of raping a 21-year-old law intern at his Ashram last month. The woman from Chhattisgarh's Bilsapur has accused the 60-year-old godman of sexually assaulting her when she went to his Ashram to meet him.

Falahari Maharaj, also known as the Baba, commands a strong following both in India and abroad. The victim's family has been among the Baba's followers for several years and claims to have given large donations to his Ashram.

The godman, who was arrested from a private hospital where he had got himself admitted, was produced in the court of an Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate in Alwar after his medical check-up. The court remanded him in judicial custody for 15 days.

The arrest came three days after the filing of the case, originally registered in Bilaspur, were brought to Alwar by the investigating officer. The noose was tightening on Falahari Maharaj since the matter came to light, as the woman alleged that he had raped her on the Raksha Bandhan day on August 7.

The woman, pursuing a law course in Jaipur, has stated in her complaint that she had obtained an internship under a senior lawyer in Delhi on the Baba's recommendation. After she received her first stipend, her parents asked her to donate the money at Falahari Maharaj's Ashram as a token of respect.

When the woman went to the Ashram in Alwar on Raksha Bandhan last month, the Baba asked her to stay there in view of the lunar eclipse that day. During the night, he called her in his room and allegedly sexually assaulted her.

The woman said she mustered courage to report about the incident after the conviction of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a rape case. She lodged the case at her hometown Bilaspur on September 11, after which the investigating officer came to Alwar.

The police in Alwar recorded the woman's statement and took her to the Ashram on Friday to identify the room where the crime was allegedly committed. She was also asked to recognise the Baba's disciple who had dropped her at Alwar railway station, while the police sealed the godman's room.

Police had a tough time controlling a huge crowd of the Baba's followers who gathered outside the Ashram and raised slogans against the deployment of police force at the place.