Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)
Bengaluru, Nov 22: It is now almost clear that Swami Nithyananda, who has been in one controversy or the other since the last several years, has fled from the country. Recently, first information report had been registered against Nithyananda and his disciples, accusing them of kidnapping children and forcibly employing them as labourers at Ahmedabad. Ahmedabad district superintendent of police, R V Asari, said that as per the department's information, Nithyananda has escaped from the country.
Asari, who has been overseeing investigation into allegations against Nithyananda, stated that the department is trying to find the current whereabouts of Nithyananda but so far there is no information.
Principal of Delhi Public School at East Ahmedabad Hitesh Puri, and Bakul Thakkar, owner of a residential house, were arrested by the police on Thursday. They were later released. They had entered into an agreement as per which more than 12 children were kept in illegal custody in a flat owned by Thakkar. The children were from Nithyananda Ashram.
Sadhvi Pran Priyamvada and Priyatatva Riddhi Kiran, both of whom are said to be from Mysuru, who are disciples of Nithyananda, had been arrested by the police on Wednesday. They were accused of torturing the children and pressurizing them to work as labourers. Both were remanded to five days police custody.
The arrests were made on the basis of statements of two children rescued by the police. Sometime back, a person from Tamil Nadu had complained that his three daughters and a son had been shifted from the Ashram of Nithyananda at Bidadi, Bengaluru, to Hathijain in Ahmedabad district in September without information. The parents who went to Ahmedabad were not allowed to meet their children. Their two daughters, who are majors, reportedly refused to accompany their parents.
A few children were later rescued. Allegedly 15 to 16 children were forced to do child labour by the Ashram authorities. Gujarat home minister Pradipsinh Jadeja has said that no one would be spared if found guilty.