Sriperumbudur, April 20: A local court on Monday issued a non-bailable arrest warrant (NBW) against embattled Swami Nithyananda — who allegedly figures in a sleaze tape involving an actress – following a petition filed by an advocate here.
Sriperumbudur District Munsif-cum-Judicial Magistrate S Gunasekhar issued directions to the Superintendent of Police, Rama Nagar in Karnataka where the godman’s Bidadi ashram is located, to execute the warrant irrespective of whether or not he is available at his address. He also directed the SP to form a special team, if necessary, to arrest the godman and produce him before the court by May 20.
On a private complaint filed by K Selvamani against Nithyananda under section 295 (a) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief), the magistrate on March 12 issued summons to the godman to appear before him on April 2. Since April 2 happened to be Good Friday, a holiday, the matter was posted to April 5. Later it was adjourned to April 19. The NBW was issued since he failed to appear before the court on Monday.
Selvamani, a former RSS activist, told Express that after the court took cognizance of the case prior to issuing the first summons, he had submitted “additional evidence” after which the court issued the NBW.
“The evidence is confidential…. A large number of advocates asked me to share it so that they too could file similar cases against Nithyananda, but I refused. I do not want others to use my evidence as a weapon for publicity,” Selvamani said.
Asked why he was agitated since the actress herself had not filed any complaint, Selvamani said: “He should not have been involved in sexual activity while sporting the saffron robe, the rudraksham, and other symbols of Hinduism… He has denigrated the religion.” He said two Sangh Parivar office bearers in Kancheepuram had been listed as witnesses in the case.