Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, requesting him to order a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Anbu Jothi Ashram case.

He said that a CBI probe was needed because there were indications that the owners of the Ashram had indulged in human and organ trafficking both within Tamil Nadu and outside the state.

The owners of the Ashram, i.e., Jubin Baby and his wife Maria are Christians from Kerala. The inmates, however, belong to various religions.

The Ashram in Villupuram which calls itself a 'residential home for mentally ill and destitutes', was recently found to have illegally confined a lot of people and branded them as mentally ill. Many women who were rescued have said that they were sexually assaulted. Others added that if they resisted, they would be chained and beaten with iron rods or monkeys would be unleashed on them.

The horrific incidents that have been happening in the Ashram for decades, came to light recently, when a person filed a complaint with the police that his father-in-law, Jabarullah, aged 70, went missing from the Ashram. It was also found to be running without a licence.

The police were first told that 52 inmates were shifted to an Ashram in Bangalore but on going there, they were told that Jabarullah and 14 other inmates had escaped from the home.

During the investigation, many fake authorisation letters from the police authorising the Ashram to bury dead bodies were found. This is what led to the suspicion of human and organ trafficking. Connections were found to Karnataka and Rajasthan.

After more than 100 inmates were rescued from the Ashram, another branch of the Ashram in Kottakuppam was discovered and the inmates there were found to have undergone similar torture.

Selvakumar, the vice president of Tamil Nadu BJP's industrial cell said that in July 2022, Coimbatore district BJP president, Balaji Uthamaramasamy had caught Baby for kidnapping innocent people but the police let him off the very next day.

Both Baby and Maria have been arrested along with most of the employees of the Ashram. The Tamil Nadu police have transferred the probe to the Crime Branch- Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID).