Nityananda brought to Bangalore

BANGALORE - Self-styled godman Swami Nityananda, arrested Wednesday from a Himachal Pradesh village, was brought to Bangalore Thursday evening to face trial in several criminal cases relating to obscenity, criminal intimidation, rape and hurting religious sentiments.

The 32-year-old Nityananda, who has been on the run since March 3 after telecast of a video showing him in bed with two women, is being taken to Ramanagara, about 40 km from here, to be presented before a court late Thursday, a Bangalore police spokesperson said.

Nityanada was running an ashram in Bidadi, about 30 km from here, in Ramanagara district.

Nityananda and his accomplice Nithya Bhaktananda alias Gopal Seelam Reddy were taken to Chandigarh Thursday morning from Himachal Pradesh and flown to Bangalore via Mumbai, the spokesperson said.

Nityananda was whisked away by police as scores of mediapersons waited outside.

However, Reddy was brought out through the normal departure gates and was jeered by a small group of people as he walked to a police vehicle.

The spokesperson said Nityananda and Reddy will go through routine medical checkup at Ramanagara. Later police will present them before a court and seek their custody.

Nityananda, along with four others, was arrested Wednesday from a village near Arki town in Solan district, about 50 km from Shimla.

Nityananda, Reddy and the other accused were presented in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate (Shimla) Yashwant Singh Chogal, who sent Nityananda and Reddy to four days’ transit remand to Bangalore, late Wednesday night.

A joint team of Karnataka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Himachal Pradesh Police took Nityananda and Reddy into custody after three days of massive search. They had been staying in a rented house since March 27 in Himachal Pradesh.

Three laptops, eight mobiles, Rs.300,000 and $7,000 in cash were seized from the house where Nityananda was staying.

Karnataka Corps of Detectives (CoD) Director General of Police (DGP) D.V. Guruprasad said in Bangalore: “The godman is wanted in connection with two cases registered in Coimbatore and Chennai last month but transferred early this month to Bidadi, under various IPC (Indian Penal Code) sections.”

“A probe team searched the godman’s ashram ‘Dhaynapeetam’ at Bidadi again Tuesday and seized incriminating documents and 23 computer hard disks,” he said.

In a related development, the Karnataka High Court Wednesday rejected Nityananada’s anticipatory bail plea and his petition to quash the criminal cases against him.