BENGALURU: Armed with a warrant issued by the Gujarat High Court, a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) team of the Gujarat police on Saturday searched the ashram of absconding self-styled godman Nithyananda at Bidadi near here. “A search was carried out at the ashram. After it was established that Nithyananda was not there, the managers at the ashram were questioned about his whereabouts,” a police officer from Bidadi said.
Nityananda has been accused of rape, forceful confinement and kidnapping. The Gujarat HC on Tuesday had slammed the police and asked them to produce two missing women who are siblings — Lopamudra Sharma and Nandhitha Sharma — before the court on December 10. The directive came on a plea filed by the girls’ father Janardhan Sharma, who resides in Bengaluru. It is widely believed that Nityananda, along with the two girls, is in Trinidad and Tobago.
The Gujarat police are working with Interpol, the Ministry of External Affairs and other agencies to trace the two women. Sources said the Karnataka police have been extending cooperating to their Gujarat counterparts in the investigation.
‘Nithyananda hasn’t attended court cases in Ramanagara’
However, a senior police officer told The New unday Express that Nithyananda has not been at his Bidadi for almost a year. “He is not in the country. He has not even attended court cases in Ramanagara,” said the officer.The two young women had recently posted videos on Facebook saying that they will not return to India unless the authorities meet their conditions which included being given
police protection.
They also said they were ready for a video conference at the embassy in Trinidad and Tobago. However, the Gujarat High Court rejected this and ordered that the two women should appear in person during the next hearing on December 10.Janardhan Sharma has alleged that the authorities at the ‘Yogini Sarvagyapeetham’ in Ahmedabad did not allow them to meet their children.
Four of his children were initially enrolled at the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetham at Nithyananda Nagara in Bidadi, near Bengaluru in 2013. Later, all four were shifted to Ahmedabad without notice last year.
Two minor children were returned, but the two adult daughters were kept in the ashram, he had complained.