Nithyananda, not Ranjitha, was blackmailed: CID

Officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) said on Tuesday that disciples of tainted swamy Nithyananda Paramahamsa of the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetham at Bidadi in Ramanagaram district tried to derail the investigation into the sexual escapades and sleaze tapes featuring the self-styled godman and Tamil actress Ranjitha alias Srivalli.

The officers say that if it were not for the persistence of one woman who refused to be cowed down, investigations might have drawn a blank. The woman who aided the investigations is, at present, settled in the US. The CID did not want to divulge her identity, but claimed that she admitted to being repeatedly raped by the swamy.

“The woman came forward even though a Mysore resident, who later settled in the US, Vinay Bharadwaj, was silenced. The disciples of Nithyananda slapped a false case against Bharadwaj, and he was jailed in Seattle, just as he had agreed to depose before investigating officers. We were left with no evidence, as Ranjitha had already claimed that she had had nothing to do with the case,” an officer said.

Director-general of police (CID) DV Guruprasad, said that this is a matter in which no case can be made, if it involves consenting adults. “We were left with only one man willing to depose, Vinay Bhardwaj. But he was silenced after a criminal case was slapped on him in the USA. The ray of hope came after an anonymous woman came forward, alleging that the ‘spiritual leader’ repeatedly raped her. This woman gave us a statement that ran into 23 pages,” Guruprasad said.

Investigations have revealed that the statement that actor Ranjitha made to the media on December 31 about being blackmailed was not true. An officer stated that soon after the videos were made, the spiritual leader was blackmailed, not Ranjitha. “As soon as the ashram inmates came to know about the sleaze tapes, they tried to hush the matter up by offering huge sums of money to prevent them from being made public,” the official said.

Some third parties were paid at least Rs10 crore in a bid to stop the telecast of the video. Even though money changed hands, the tapes were telecast on a TV channel for the first time on March 2, 2010. Nithyananda fled the ashram and went to Haridwar. As he was on his way there, he called Ranjitha and told her not to talk to anyone, especially the media. Ranjitha herself made a statement to this effect to officials,” an officer said.

Soon after Nithyananda was arrested from Solan, Himachal Pradesh, where he had been in hiding, he was brought to the CID headquarters. Nithyananda confessed that he had erectile dysfunction. “He also confessed that he had a heightened urge for sex on amavasya and poornima nights, when there is the new moon or the full moon. He said that he was much like other men when it came to the sex urge.

“He confessed that he had sex with as many as 20 disciples. He also said that in order to impart ‘spiritual bliss’ to disciples, he used to hug them. He made the allegation that his work had drawn a large number of non-Hindus into the fold, causing resentment,” an officer said.

In her statement to the CID police on June 21, Ranjitha made it clear that she and the swamiji were in constant touch: “On March 2 night, Swamiji spoke to me over my mobile phone and informed me that the clippings had been telecast. I was shocked. Swamiji consoled me. He advised me not to talk to the media. It is false to say I had purchased a house worth Rs20 crore. I know about the non-disclosure agreement, but I have not signed any such thing,” Ranjitha had said.

Forensic tests on the tapes revealed that that the people featured in them were indeed Nithyananda and Ranjitha. Attempting to explain, Ranjitha said that as a celebrity, she has appeared for sessions of video filming to promote activities at the ashram. Ranjitha had also accompanied the swamiji on his trips to the USA a couple of times.