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Godman exposed in Kerala

The godman, Amritha Chaithanya alias Santosh Madhavan, is wanted by Interpol since 2004 for fraud committed in the United Arab Emirates.

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His 16-suite abode in Kochi raided

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Yet another godman was under scanner when the police raided a 16-suite ashram in Kochi on Thursday. The godman, Amritha Chaithanya alias Santosh Madhavan, is wanted by Interpol since 2004 for fraud committed in the United Arab Emirates.

Interpol has issued a red alert against Santosh Madhavan, aged 35, and Saifudeen Alikanu, aged 47, after the Dubai government issued an arrest warrant against the duo in a fraud case. The global agency’s website says the culprits speak English and Urdu. While Madhavan hails from Idukki district in Kerala, Alikanu is a native of Thiruvananthapuram.

The police raid follows an expose by a Malayalam weekly establishing the identity of the godman, known under the pseudonym Amritha Chaithanya. The report says that Madhavan and his accomplice had invested crores of rupees in real estate in Kerala and built up a network of influential friends and well-wishers.

Madhavan, in his avatar as the white-clad swamy, founded Shanthitheeram trust in his own name and his parents. The godman, a matriculate who claims to have learnt astrology and philosophy, roams around in a Mercedes Benz and invests the swindled money in building projects across the state, the weekly reports.

He has been organising “spiritual” events in the city and advertising himself in full-page advertorials in vernacular dailies for over a year. If caught, the swamy will have to be extradited to the UAE as per India’s international treaty obligations.

The police, who raided his ashram in Kochi, said they were acting on the basis of several complaints. “We have got some complaints against the ashram. We are investigating the dealings of the institution,” special branch assistant commissioner Jayachandran Nair said. The team found only a handful of staff in the ashram-guest house. Madhavan’s whereabouts were not known.

Interestingly, the police found a wedding invite of the godman from his ashram. Madhavan got married to a girl from Palakkad last year.

s_don@dnaindia.net

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