In a temporary relief for controversial godman Swami Nithyananda, the high court on Tuesday stayed a lower court order giving permission to the CID to subject him to a medical test in connection with a sex scandal in 2010, till Wednesday.
Justice V. Jagannathan passed the interim order while hearing Nithyananda’s plea challenging the Ramanagaram court’s order. Nithyananda is facing a CID probe into allegations of rape and criminal intimidation after some TV channels telecast purported footage of him in a compromising position with an actress. Even as the CID, armed with the court order, asked Nithyananda to appear before a medical panel to test his sexual potency, he headed to Kailash Mansarovar, and meanwhile, approached the high court. Out on bail after his arrest in 2010, he had courted fresh trouble on June 8 when police booked him and his followers for allegedly assaulting a mediaperson during a press conference at his ashram at Bidadi.
Pascal denied bail
The HC on Tuesday adjourned hearing on the bail plea of French consulate official Pascal Mazurier, arrested on charge of raping his four-year-old daughter, to August 21. He has moved the HC seeking bail after a fast track court rejected his bail application on the ground that there was ‘direct evidence’ against him.