Did the controversial godman Swami Nithyananda invite his re-arrest by filing a Rs 10 crore claim against Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, senior police and district officers and a private media channel for damaging the property in his Bidadi ashram just before he was enlarged on bail or was his arrest ‘necessary’ in the interest of his own life?
Senior police and district officers, not willing to go on record, said if Nithyananda was released on Thursday, his life would have been in danger after he sued the CM for damages. “The pro-Kannada activists would not have spared him because they consider him a rank outsider, who is reportedly vitiating the atmosphere in the State with his alleged sex scandals and other illegal activities,” said an officer. According to unconfirmed reports, the economic intelligence agencies are also reportedly examining the foreign fund flow to the Bidadi ashram.
The police, while pleading for his re-arrest minutes after Nithyananda was released on bail, presented a strong case before the executive magistrate and put together the controversial CD, reportedly of the godman with one his former devotees in a compromising position – the case, in which he has been chargesheeted by the CID, newspaper clippings of his alleged sex scandals and other controversies for which the godman has been in the news for some time now.
They argued that if released, his life would be in danger. The entire police machinery at Ramanagaram was reportedly pressed into building the case around the godman’s arrest. Interestingly, Nithyananda was to be produced before the JMF Court at 11am, but because of some function in the court premises, it was delayed till 3pm. In the meantime, TV channels started flashing the news of the petition he filed against the CM and the fleet of Mercedes Benz cars waiting outside the court hall to whisk him away to Tamil Nadu. “It sent a wrong signal throughout the State and would have created public unrest in the region,” said the officer.