The bench considered the stance of the jail authorities and also the police authorities in Ahmedabad and Surat districts. The police authorities highlighted the fact that Sai being an influential person among his followers, can disturb public peace and tranquility.
It pointed out how a lady Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) was threatened by one of his Sadhaks (disciples) and that some of his followers had also, at his behest, offered ₹1 crore bribe to the police team investigating the case.
“It has come on record that the witnesses have been threatened during trial. Several aggravating incidents have been noticed by this Court as duly reported by the authority in their report. Such incidents are spread in the span over the year 2014 onward till year 2019. Even inside the jail, he has continuously displayed lack of discipline, in fact one of the incident which is reported in his jail conduct indicates that he had led and instigated the jail inmates to protest inside the jail to fulfill their demand, which, prima-facie, goes to show the tendency of the petitioner to get evolve in coercive tactics against the jail authority,” the Court noted.
Source: Barandbench
