Police accompanying godman Nithyananda in 2012 (File Photo) | Photo Credit: BCCL

Key Highlights The two aides reportedly refused to cooperate with police and even snatched the mobile phones from the third daughter of the complainant, said police The kids were reportedly made to do hard labour and collect alms for the ashram If they refused to do the tasks assigned to them, the kids were thrashed A former disciple had approached the Gujarat High Court with allegations that Nithyananda was holding his daughters hostage

New Delhi: Investigating allegations of alleged abuse of minors at the ashram of self-styled godman Nithyananda, Ahmedabad police on Thursday arrested two individuals who have been identified as managers of his ashram. The Gujarat High Court has also issued a notice to the self-styled godman in this regard. All three involved have been booked on charges of assault on children. They have been accused by the Tamil Nadu-based father of two girls for illegally confining his daughters at the ashram and subjecting them to mental and physical torture. At this moment, the whereabouts of Nithyananda is unknown.

Going by the most recent inputs, Gujarat police has issued a statement saying that Nithyananda has fled the country. Earlier today, the Ministry of External Affairs had hinted at the self-styled godman's presence in Trinidad and Tobago. "I have been worried about my daughter's life. We trusted the godman but he has betrayed our trust. I request Nithyananda to not harass my daughters. I have no way of speaking to them because they have no apparatus to contact me," said the aggrieved father of the daughters. In his complaint, the father has alleged that he has been unable to track his daughters.

He alleged that in 2013, he had admitted four of his daughters to the Nithyananda ashram in Bidadi near Bengaluru and the eldest daughter was then a 15-year-old. He reportedly had a fallout with Nithyananda earlier this year, following which he discovered that his children were shifted to Gujarat’s Yogini Sarvagya Peetham (run by Nithyananda), allegedly without his consent. The distraught father then approached the Gujarat High Court through the Gujarat State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (GSCPCR).

#Breaking | Self-styled godman Nithyananda has been booked & 2 of his managers have been arrested for allegedly kidnapping & abusing minor girls.

Listen in: Victims’ father speaks to TIMES NOW.



Deepak Bopanna with more details. pic.twitter.com/EgjTGgF23R — TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) November 21, 2019

The two aides arrested by police have been identified as 30-year-old Harini Chelappan alias Maa Nithya Pranpriya Nanda, 24-year-old Riddhi Ravikiran alias Maa Nithya Priyatattva Nanda. Both of them are natives of Mysore and were arrested from the self-styled godman's ashram at Hirapur in Ahmedabad's Daskroi taluka.

The FIR against Nithyananda and his aides has been lodged under sections 354 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage woman's modesty), 344 (wrongful confinement), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 505 (2) which corresponds to charges of statements which create or promote hatred between classes.

Speaking to media outlets about the case, deputy superintendent of police (rural) KT Kamaria said that the two aides were arrested on the basis of complaints from two children. The children accused the duo of assaulting them and confining them to a house in Pushpak City, added the DSP while telling media persons that the children were also threatened by the accused.

A team of investigators working on the case had earlier recovered children's clothes from the ashram and the house in Pushpak City. During the course of the investigation, the statements of as many as 47 children have been recorded. The two women accused by them were arrested and produced before the Ahmedabad rural court. While the police sought 10 days of custodial interrogation, they were granted custody for five days.

This is not the first time self-styled godman Nithyananda has landed into legal trouble. He was accused of rape by a woman in 2010 but acquitted. In 2014, a woman was found dead at one of his ashrams with authorities claiming that she died of a heart attack but the family members of the woman repeatedly claimed that she was not suffering from any heart conditions, to begin with.

A video posted about two months ago has also surfaced on social media where a woman claiming to be a former disciple of the self-styled godman talks about how "his dangerous cult brain-washes disciples".