Santosh Gupta (Navajyoti)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Santosh Gupta

• Santosh Gupta is a former Indian journalist, who worked as a news reporter for a local newspaper in Rajasthan called ‘Dainik Navajyoti.’ He hit the headlines in 1992 after he covered the Ajmer rape and blackmailing case, which was one of the most scandalous crimes in India.

• He extensively covered the Ajmer rape case until the mid-2000s. He also appeared several times as a witness to support the prosecution.

• However, he later resigned from his job at Dainik Navajyoti and started working at a private hospital, where he took on the role of handling public relations.

• According to Gupta, in the 1990s, more than 250 minor girls, who were mainly school and college students, were raped and blackmailed by a gang of 18 people. The gang was led by the former Indian youth politicians and Khadim of Ajmer Sharif Dargah named Nafis Chishti and Farooq Chisti. They used to trap the girls by being their friends and later invited them to party at their farmhouse which was located on the Foy Sagar Road. Allegedly, the culprits sometimes drug the girls to bring them to the farmhouse, where they were raped by dozens of men. The convicts also used to take obscene pictures of those girls, which they later used to blackmail them.

  

• The horrifying crime was brought to the public’s attention by Santosh Gupta through an article in the local newspaper ‘Dainik Navajyoti’ on 21 April 1992. But people didn’t pay much attention until 15th May 1992, when he published a second report with blurred images of the unclothed survivors. This revelation sparked widespread outrage and led to a complete shutdown in Ajmer on 18 May 1992, as a protest against the terrible act.

  

• In an interview, Santosh Gupta disclosed how the explicit pictures of the victims were made public, exposing the evil faces of Nafis Chishti and Farooq Chishti, who were the main leaders of the gang and former Indian youth politicians. According to Gupta, a person named Purshottam, who developed film rolls, bragged about having inappropriate photos to his neighbour Devendra Jain, who was looking at a pornographic magazine. Devendra was alarmed by Purshottam’s claim of even more explicit content, which he called the “real stuff.” In response, Devendra made copies of the pictures and shared them with the local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) group and the newspaper Dainik Navajyoti. After receiving the pictures, the VHP workers gave them to the police, prompting the initiation of an official investigation into the matter.

• After years of investigation, it was revealed that a gang of 18 people, including some caretakers of the Sufi shrine of Ajmer Sharif Dargah Moinuddin Chishti, were accused of engaging in the rape and blackmail case that took place in Ajmer in 1992.

  

• The former president of the Ajmer Youth Congress named Farooq Chishti was identified as the gang’s main leader. Other accused individuals included Nafis Chishti, Moijullah (also known as Puttan), Ishrat Ali, Anwar Chishtee, and Shamshuddin (also known as Meradona).

• One of the culprits named Purshottam, who used to develop reels of obscene pictures of the victims, died by suicide in 1994.

• In 1998, the district sessions court found eight accused guilty and gave them life imprisonment. But in 2001, the Rajasthan High Court acquitted four of them, and later, the Supreme Court reduced the sentences of the remaining four to ten years in 2003. Following that, the remaining accused were arrested and faced trials at various times over the next few decades.

• In 2007, Farooq Chishti was convicted and given a life sentence by a fast-track court, despite claiming mental instability for trial. However, in 2013, the Rajasthan High Court released him, stating that he had served enough time in prison. ^[1]Indian Kanoon ^[2]Indian Kanoon

• In 2012, the authorities arrested Salim Chishti, who was on the run. On 4 January 2012, the Rajasthan police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) arrested Saiyed Saleem Chishtee, one of the accused from Khalid Mohalla in Ajmer, in connection with the case. On 15 February 2018, Suhail Ghani Chisty, who had been evading arrest, surrendered before the district court in Ajmer after 26 years.

• Salim Chishti, who had been fleeing from the authorities, was arrested in 2012.

• In 2012, Salim Chishti, who was evading the authorities, got arrested. The Rajasthan police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) arrested another accused named Saiyed Saleem Chishtee from Khalid Mohalla in Ajmer on 4 January 2012. Another accused named Suhail Ghani Chisty, who had been avoiding arrest for 26 years, surrendered before the district court in Ajmer on 15 February 2018. ^[3]Deccan Herald

• In an interview, Santosh Gupta revealed that the political influence and social status of Nafis Chishti and Farooq Chishti played a significant role in their ability to commit the horrifying crime. In the same interview, he recalled an incident and described the luxurious life led by the culprits during that time. He said,
  

  All this clout helped them. I remember one incident where the two of them, on their jeep, went to Elite where some schoolgirls were sitting. One of them called the (restaurant) manager and asked him to distribute ice cream to everyone as it was the birthday of one of their friends. It may seem filmy, but during that time, it could leave anyone spellbound. Every crime reporter closely followed the gang because with great power comes great crime stories.”

• In an interview, Gupta talked about the social stigma that spread across the city following the incident. He revealed that people started assuming that the girls from Ajmer were victims of the crime after the rape case became public. Gupta added that during that time, many strangers visited him to ask if the girls they planned to marry were victims of the case or not. While talking about it in the interview, he said,
  

  No one wanted to marry girls from Ajmer. I used to get so many unwanted visitors in the ’90s. People would tell me about upcoming weddings and then show me a picture of the bride. They would ask me to tell them whether or not she was ‘one of them.” He added, “In the months after the story broke, if a girl died by suicide, she was assumed to have been a victim of the gang.”

• According to the former reporter, the victims continue to endure difficulties due to the way the authorities approached the case. Rather than focusing on bringing justice to the victims, the police seemed more concerned about potential public disturbances caused by the scandal.

• In an interview, Santosh Gupta revealed how the perpetrators of the case utilized their religious influence to live a privileged life and gain support from higher authorities in different matters. He said,
  

  They used this religious power to get political influence. SPs to SHOs would call them to negotiate over FIRs or issue appeals. No one could say no to them.”

• In 2021, a web series called ‘Ajmer 1992’ was announced, which was based on the Ajmer Rape Case -1992. Directed by Pushpendra Singh, the web series featured Sahil Mishra, a film and theatre actor from Bhopal, in an important role. It was scheduled to be available for streaming in December 2021.

• In July 2023, a film titled ‘Ajmer 92’ was released which was also centred around the same incident. This film was directed by Pushpendra Singh and starred Karan Verma, Sumit Singh, and Rajesh Sharma in significant roles.