Ramanagaram sessions court remands the tainted godman to judicial
custody, a fast track court grants conditional bail in sandalwood case.
The Ramanagaram sessions court on Friday remanded self-styled godman Nithyananda Paramahamsa to judicial custody till May 12. In a separate but related development, Nithtyananda was granted conditional bail by a fast track court in Ramanagaram, in a case pertaining to the March 3 seizure of 70kg of sandalwood from his ashram.
While remanding the swami to judicial custody, additional civil judge (senior division) justice Narayana Prasad directed the jail authorities to provide Nithyananda a diet as prescribed by the prison doctor, if required. The swami’s counsel HS Chandramouli requested that his client be provided food cooked at the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam in Bidadi.
The court ordered the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to return a rudraksha rosary taken away from the swami.
Nithyananda was produced before the court at 3.30pm.
The police said the CID, probing various criminal charges against Nithyananda, had not been able to make much headway in eliciting any information from him.
“We are in the process of analysing the documents and memory card seized from Nithyananda’s former disciple Lenin Karuppanan when he was summoned here for questioning last week,” the police said.
Nithyananda would be sharing a cell in the Ramagaram sub-jail with his disciple Nithya Bhaktananda alias Gopal Seelam Reddy, who was arrested along with swami on April 21 from their hideout in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district. Nithyananda, facing criminal charges, including rape, had been in police custody ever since his arrest.
“A special cell was already arranged for the tainted spiritual leader at Ramanagaram sub jail. The cell looked like it was meant for women,” a police officer said.
Meanwhile, fast track court justice Vijayalakshmi Devi, who granted bail to Nithyananda in the sandalwood case, ordered that the swami should not leave Ramanagaram without the court’s permission. Besides furnishing a personal bond for Rs.25,000, the swami was also asked to cooperate with the investigating forest officials.
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