Bengaluru: Controversial "godman" Nithyananda may have fled India without a passport to save himself from a rape case registered against him in Karnataka. But he has founded a new nation of his own, naming it 'Kailaasa'. And it has its own "passport".

Nithyananda has also launched a website of the new "nation", describing it as the greatest Hindu nation on earth.

According to unconfirmed reports, Nithyananda has bought an island in Ecuador in central Latin America and has started calling it an independent, new nation.

The website claims that "Kailaasa is a nation without borders created by dispossessed Hindus around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries." The country has its own "passport" and Nithyananda has already released a sample of it online.

According to the wesbite, the "new nation" also offers a temple-based ecosystem, science behind the third eye, yoga, meditation, and Gurukul education system. Not only that, it also offers universal free health care, free education, free food and a temple-based lifestyle for all.

Nithyananda is now inviting people to become citizens of his "nation" and is also seeking donation to run it.

Nithyananda, whose real name is Rajashekharan, is a native of Tamil Nadu. He rose to prominence after founding an ashram near Bengaluru in early 2000s. His preachings are loosely based on those of Osho Rajneesh.

In 2010, Nithyananda hit the headlines after a video of him in a compromising position with an actress went viral. He was later charged with rape and arrested.

He was also arrested and charge-sheeted in a separate case of rape.

After a sex scandal and alleged abuse of girls at his ashram near Ahmedabad became public last month, the Gujarat Police informed court that Nithyananda is no longer in India.

According to Karnataka police sources, Nithyananda may have fled India in late 2018 after jumping bail. His passport expired in September 2018 and the local police had turned down his request for a renewal.

According to many of his former devotees, Nithyananda's ashram was known for all kinds of illegal and immoral activities.

There are several question marks over how he managed to flee the country without a passport.

A local employee at Nithyananda's headquarters near Bengaluru claims no one has seen him over the last year and the situation there is grim.