Swami Nityananda arrested from Himachal village (Second Lead)

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

The Karnataka-based Nityananda has 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 a 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 a village near Arki in Solan district. He was staying in a house for the past few days,” Additional Director General of Police I.D. Bhandari told IANS.

Two of the arrested people belong to Delhi.

“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.

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

More than five mobile phones were recovered from the possession of the five arrested people.

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.