Nithyananda nabbed in HP
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The swami may be brought to city this afternoon, with disciple
BANGALORE MIRROR BUREAU
Swami Nithyananda who had gone into 'spiritual seclusion' since the video showing him in a sexual act with a Tamil film actress became public in March has finally been arrested in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday.
A joint team of the criminal investigation departments (CID) of both Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh nabbed the swami along with a disciple identified as Nithya Bhaktananda.
8 CELLPHONES? They also seized three laptops, eight cell phones, Rs 3 lakh, 7,000 US dollars and travellers' cheques from him. He is expected to be brought by air into the city by Thursday afternoon.
Nithyananda is accused of several criminal cases in connection with rape, sexual harassment, cheating, criminal intimidation, criminal conspiracy and hurting religious sentiments.
REGULAR BAIL Meanwhile, the swami's advocate H S Chandramouli made a statement that he would seek regular bail to his client. Earlier the high court had rejected an application by the Swami seeking anticipatory bail.
Initially, after the sex tape controversy broke out, a case was filed against Nithyananda in Chennai. Then the case was transferred to Bidadi and later it was handed over to the CID.
"After we got to know of his whereabouts, our team left for Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. We picked him up from a house in a remote village of Solan district, which we believe belongs to one of his disciples. At the time of arrest, he was with three others," K S R Charan Reddy, DIG of CID said.
TWO CRIMINAL CASES The arrests are mainly in connection with two criminal cases. "The first case was registered by Lenin Karuppan, a former driver of the swami, related to rape and the second was from one Vishwanath of Coimbatore in which he accused Nithyananda of hurting religious sentiments. This apart, on April 20, we had also conducted a search operation in his Bidadi ashram and seized 22 hard disks along with some documents," Reddy said.
Nithyananda was produced before a magistrate in Himachal Pradesh and a transit remand has been granted to Karnataka police to take him to Bangalore.
CASE ADJOURNED The High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday adjourned the petition filed by Nithyananda for quashing of the cases filed against him and stopping investigation by the police. The case has been adjourned to Friday.
Meanwhile, a sessions court in Ramanagar dismissed the bail application of Nithyananda in a related case. The court had issued a warrant against him earlier.
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