More than 75 blankets were distributed in an Uttar Pradesh jail on Tuesday along with pictures of Asaram, a jailed “holy man” serving a life sentence for rape who was once close to Narendra Modi and the BJP.

The incident happened in Shahjahanpur, home district of the raped girl and a witness in the case, Kripal Singh, who was murdered. The two alleged blanket donors had earlier been lodged in the same jail, accused of conspiring to kill Kripal, before obtaining bail.

District magistrate Indra Vikram Singh has serve a notice on jail superintendent Rakesh Kumar seeking an explanation.

Asaram, a self-styled “godman”, had since 2008 got embroiled in controversy over the disappearance and alleged murder of young boys from many of his dozens of ashrams across northern and western India, prompting Modi to distance himself from him.

In 2018, he was convicted of raping the minor Shahjahanpur girl at his Jodhpur ashram in 2013. He is lodged in a Jodhpur prison.

Tuesday’s event came to light after the jail administration issued a media release, identifying the blanket donors as Arjun and Narayan Pandey, residents of Asaram’s Lucknow ashram who are accused of plotting the July 2015 murder of Kripal in Shahjahanpur.

Sources in the Shahjahanpur administration said pictures of Asaram on glossy paper and books and booklets of his sayings were distributed along with the blankets. The said a follower of Asaram addressed the inmates, glorifying the jailed baba.

“I have sent a notice to the jail superintendent. Further action will be initiated on the basis of his reply and other facts,” the district magistrate said.

The jail superintendent said permission had been taken for the blanket distribution but was silent about Asaram’s pictures being handed out. He alleged that “rumours” were being spread about the programme.

“Some religious texts were distributed among the jail inmates with the blankets. Unfortunately, the organisers put up banners about Asaram at the event site,” he said.

He did not explain how banners could be put up on jail premises without permission.

The Shahjahanpur rape victim’s father, who had been a follower of Asaram before the assault of his daughter, told reporters: “I have sent a complaint to the district magistrate to probe the jail administration’s lapses.”

In December 2017, the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, the apex body of Hindu monks, had declared Asaram a “fake baba”.

Kripal was the third witness to be murdered in criminal cases against Asaram or his organisation.

Akhil Gupta of Muzaffarnagar was killed in January 2015 after telling a local court he had seen two girls entering Asaram’s room in his Surat ashram in 2004. The girls had accused Asaram and his son Narayan Sai of sexual assault.

Amrut Prajapati, a witness in the disappearance of two boys from a Gujarat ashram, was shot dead in June 2014.