Dixit, 79, has been absconding since cases were filed against him and the CBI has not been able to trace him in spite of an Interpol Blue Corner notice and a reward of Rs 5 lakh on him. However, if reports are to be believed he is suspected to be hiding in neighboring country Nepal.
The Interpol red notice will empower Nepal authorities to locate, arrest and hand over Dixit to India, Hindustan Times quoted an official, who is aware of the development, as saying.
The ashram was unearthed after the Delhi Commission for Women along with Delhi Police conducted raids in December 2017 and had rescued 67 women, mostly minors. All women were allegedly being kept in illegal confinement, fed like animals and were not allowed to meet their family members in the name of religious preaching.
The Delhi High Court in December 2017 had ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the matter and slammed the Delhi Police for not taking any action on various FIRs of girls and women allegedly lured to an ashram in Rohini area on the pretext of spiritual guidance and raped there.
The CBI had already filed a charge sheet against Dixit in June 2019 for allegedly raping a minor in his ashram in Rohini and Kampil, Uttar Pradesh in 1999.
In the third matter related to allegedly obstructing the work of a high court-appointed committee which went to the ashram on December 19, 2017, the CBI had filed a charge sheet.