Bangalore: Controversial godman Swami Nityananda's arrest in a joint operation by the Karnataka and Himachal police yesterday was stage-managed by his close confidants, reports claimed on Thursday.
As per reports, the close associates of Nityananda, who was absconding till his arrest on Wednesday, tipped off the Crime Branch sleuths about his hideout in Arki village of Solan district in Himachal Pradesh.
Nityananda gave his consent for engineering his own arrest after getting assurance from his close aides that he will easily secure a bail after he is produced in a local court in Bangalore.
While police is taking pride in finally nabbing the controversial godman after a month-long chase, his trusted followers are being told that Nityananada's arrest was in fact stage-managed.
Swami Nityananda, who was arrested along with three others, was today produced in a local court here.
Nityananda and his accomplice Nithya Bhaktananda alias Gopal Seelam Reddy were produced in the local court at Ramangara district, about 40 km from here.
Nityananda, Reddy along with the three 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.
Earlier in the day, a joint team of Karnataka’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Himachal Pradesh police took Nityananda and Bhaktananda into custody from a village near Arki town in Solan district, about 50 km from Shimla.
Nityananda was staying quietly in a house for the past few days in a village near Arki town in Solan district.
Himachal police got a fax from the Karnataka police on April 17 that they had information that Nityananda was hiding in Himachal Pradesh. Subsequently, two Deputy Superintendents of Police reached Shimla for investigation,” a top Karnataka police official have disclosed.
The 32-year-old Nityananda alias Rajashekaran has been on the run since March 3 after video footage telecast showed Nityananda in bed with two women. He denied any wrongdoing and has not been seen in public since then.
The godman is wanted in connection with two cases registered in Coimbatore and Chennai last month but transferred early this month to Bidadi, about 35 km from Bangalore, under various IPC (Indian Penal Code) sections.
The charges include obscenity, criminal intimidation, rape and hurting religious sentiments.
Nityananda and Bhaktananda were presented before a local magistrate in Solan for a transit warrant and will be taken to Bangalore.
In an earlier raid last month, the CID seized three laptops, eight mobiles, Rs.300,000 and $7,000 in cash and travellers’ cheques from the godman’s ashram premises.
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.
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