Daijiworld Media Network - Kolar (SP)
Kolar, Mar 5: Dattatreya Avadhoot Swamiji was the facade under which Rajendra, who chose to wear robes of an ascetic to fool the people, operated. After he disappeared from the village along with a girl from there, her parents had registered kidnap case against him.
Dattatreya Avadhoot Swamiji of Holali Sevashram in the district had run away from the Math along with a 19-year-old girl, a devotee of his Math from the village. The Swamiji, who was found to have stayed in a lodge with the girl at Murudeshwar, is in police custody now.
The Math at Holali had begun operations newly and on the holy Sankranti day, Dattatreya Avadhoot Swamiji was installed as its head. The Swamiji had become close to a 19-year-old girl who used to visit the Math to offer him Padapuja. The Sevashrama Peeta had been newly set up at Holali by the Swamiji with the support of the managing committee of Lord Bheemalingehswara temple in Holali village.
Rajendra acquired the name, 'Dattatreya Avadhoot Swamiji' and took over charge of the Ashram on January 15. He went missing with the said girl on February 25. Later, he called the family of the girl over phone to inform them that he had married the girl at Tirupati and asked them not to file police complaint. As the Swamiji had not provided any evidence that he had married the girl, her parents filed kidnap complaint against the Swamiji in Kolar rural police station.
The police, who went searching for the Swamiji, arrested him on Wednesday from Murudeshwar in Uttara Kannada district. Rajendra, who briefly had taken on the role of a person who has abandoned all worldly things, has returned to his own self now. The girl also has been arrested.
Kolar district superintendent of police, Kartik Reddy, had formed special team to locate the Swamiji on the basis of kidnap charge levelled against him.