Nithyananda Sex Scandal gets Murkier...
Mar 5,Chennai (DHNS): The sex scandal allegedly involving Swami Nithyananda and a Tamil film star Ranjitha got even murkier on Thursday with a web of fresh charges and sinister scenarios popping up, even as the self-styled godman is believed to be “somewhere in the Kumbhamela festival”, either in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh or in Puri in Orissa.
Nearly two days after a Tamil TV channel beamed amorous pictures of the sexual intimacies that landed both the protagonists in a soup, the ‘Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam’, the worldwide institution for meditation and harmony the Godman founded, broke its silence this evening as his lawyer claimed that the pictures were not that of Nithyananda.
Hours after having moved a civil suit here, the spiritual Guru’s lawyer, M Sreedhar told a press conference amid near chaos in the hall, the whole episode was part of a “much larger conspiracy” to malign both Nithyananda and his institution by projecting his “morphed” images with an actress.
Joined by Sri Atma Prabhananda, a close aide of the Swamiji and an ‘Ashram’ spokesman, the duo claimed that even before this “so-called expose” by the TV channel, CDs’ with ‘morphed images’ of the ‘Guru’ had been e-mailed to him several times. “Swami Nithyananda has done nothing wrong and he will come and clear the air,” the spokesman added.
Disciple blamed
For them, the needle of suspicion points to one Premananda alias Lenin Karupannan, hailing from Salem in Tamil Nadu and who is said to have initially joined the Godman as a driver and later became a close disciple.
In fact, the civil suit filed on Nithyananda’s behalf, seeking to restrain the TV channel and some related Tamil publications from publishing or broadcasting anything against the Swamji, termed the tapes defamatory. It blamed Karupannan for all the “false propaganda and defamatory statements” against the Swamiji. Lenin Karupannan is now at large, and legal circles here suspect that he was the conduit for the tell-tale DVDs’ reaching the ‘Sun TV Network’ and the Tamil magazine ‘Nakkeeran’.
Even the onus of proof that the two persons shown in the CD making love were that of Swami Nithyananda and Ranjitha “lies with the television channel,” said Sreedhar and refused to take further questions as the case is due for hearing on March 8. He also alleged that the channel was already prejudiced against the Swamji, as he had earlier declined to write his popular spiritual column for ‘Kungumam’, a Tamil weekly from ‘Sun TV’ stable.
Actress Ranjitha was even “threatened” to make a complaint against the Swamiji, which she refused, alleged the lawyer. This explains why her face on the sleaze tapes were shown only in the second day broadcasts, he felt. Asked whether Ranjitha sought to help the TV channel initially, he said, “I can’t say anything now.”
Besides this internal rift in the Ashram, which legal circles feel could partly stem from the envy that the Swamiji unwittingly triggered as more foreign devotees sent donations in US dollars, another theory doing the rounds is that the sordid episode could be part of bigger game-plan by the ‘land mafia’. The Swamiji had been setting up meditation and yoga centres in several places that involved land deals by his devotees.
Ranjitha, admired in film circles here as a “very talented, beautiful and committed artiste”, left Chennai five days ago. “Memsaab is not here and you cannot meet anybody,” was the stern response of two Nepali-speaking Gurkhas guarding the complex that houses her flat in the city’s posh T Nagar area, when DH Correspondent reached there today.
Sources familiar with the Tamil film industry here say that Ranjitha, whose marriage with an army officer had strained, has probably gone back to meet her husband stationed in North India. “Sometimes, her parents come and stay with her; otherwise nobody else comes here,” the sources added.
As repeat telecasts of the Nithyananda tapes had caused ‘revulsion’ among the general public, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today warned sections of the media not to go overboard with such explicit materials and photographs. At the same time the Government will be no spectator to such sordid goings-on in such ‘Ashrams’ claiming to propagate spirituality, he added.
Whereabouts of ‘guru’ not known: Acharya
Bangalore : Home Minister V S Acharya on Thursday said the State police was in touch with their Tamil Nadu counterpart regarding the Nityananda sex scandal and would take “strict action” against the self-styled swami if need be.
“We have not been able to ascertain the whereabouts of Nityananda. We are coordinating with the Tamil Nadu police”, Acharya informed the Legislative Assembly after Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah raised the matter on the floor of the House on Thursday.
To a demand by some opposition legislators that government confiscate the Nityananda ashram premises in Bidadi, Acharya said. “How can we confiscate when it is the government land? We will seek more information on the land records from Ramanagara Deputy Commissioner and also the authorities in Tamil Nadu and take action”, he said.
On a complaint that deer and tiger skin was being used as mattresses in the ashram, the police and forest department officials had searched the premises on Thursday but nothing was found. However, the police recovered 26 kg of sandalwood pieces. Sometime back the ashram authorities had registered a police complaint that a sandalwood tree in the ashram premises had been stolen.
Acharya said the government had deployed a platoon of Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) near Nityananda’s ashram in Bidadi soon after a private channel aired the video clips showing him in compromising position on Tuesday night.
However, a huge mob managed to break the police barrier and indulged in smashing windowpanes, he said. Some of those who indulged in violence have been arrested, he said.
The reason behind the fire in five “huts” inside the ashram has not been ascertained, he said.
In the Council, Law Minister Suresh Kumar said that an enquiry would be conducted into the financial transactions of the ashram.
“The money belongs to people. The government will decide how to handle the assets of ashram. The government will also look into the allegations of the Godman’s sexual conduct”, he added.
In a country where swamijis are treated as walking and talking gods, instances like the Nityananda episode, will erode the faith of people in all the godmen, said leader of the Opposition Motamma .