Swami Nityananda, 4 others held from Himachal village (Third Lead)

SHIMLA - Swami Nityananda, who faces charges of rape, criminal intimidation and cheating and has been on the run for almost a month, was Wednesday arrested along with four others from a Himachal Pradesh village, police said.

The Karnataka-based Nityananda had been on the run since March 23 when the Karnataka High Court rejected his plea for anticipatory bail and quashing of criminal cases against him.

He was nabbed from Mamlig village near Arki town in Solan district, about 50 km from here.

“Swami Nityananda was arrested by a joint team of the Himachal Pradesh and Bangalore police from Mamlig village near Arki town in Solan district. He was staying in a rented house for the past one month,” Additional Director General of Police I.D. Bhandari told IANS.

“Himachal police got a fax from the Karnataka police April 17 that they had information that Nityananda was hiding in Himachal Pradesh. Subsequently, two deputy superintendents of police reached Shimla for investigation,” Bhandari said.

“The Karnataka police came to know about Nityananda’s whereabouts through a mobile call he had made,” he added.

He said three laptops and eight mobile phones were recovered from them.

“One SIM card procured from Himachal Pradesh was also recovered from their possession though the accused were rarely using the cell phones. But they made some international calls too,” he said.

Rajinder Singh, who is heading the police team from Himachal Pradesh, said they zeroed in on the accused after information provided by a local taxi driver.

“They hired a local taxi to visit some nearby areas a few days ago. But Nityananda and other accused Gopalsalesh Reddy rarely moved out of their residence. The three others accompanying them used to visit the nearby market to procure items of daily needs,” he said, adding “Nityananda these days used to don saffron clothes only”.

Another police official M.S. Hussain, who came from Bangalore, said: “Nityananda and Reddy reached Himachal Pradesh from Hardwar and they stayed in the village.”

A police official said they seized $7,000 and Rs.300,000 in cash from Nityananda.

He said Nityananda and Reddy have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, while three others have been arrested as they were accompanying the accused.

“The accused might be taken back to Karnataka Thursday morning,” Bhandari added.

Video footage telecast in early March showed Nityananda in bed with two women. He denied any wrongdoing and has not been seen in public since then.

After the Karnataka High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea, Nityananda had quit as head of his ashram, Dhyanapeetam, located about 35 km from Bangalore.

In a related development, the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) has sought information from all those affected by Nityananda’s actions.