They broke my head open, Held me Captive and Left🔗

me to Die

Sri Nithya Atmaprabhananda could never have foreseen, that a peaceful spiritual community can be targeted with inhuman violence.

My pre-monastic name was Mohanraj Narayanswamy. I grew up in the Tirupur District of Tamil Nadu and completed my diploma in Electronics and Communication

Engineering and Bachelors from BITS, Pilani, Rajasthan. I worked at Hewlett Packard in Bangalore as a Team Manager for over ten years before I joined as a full-time volunteer with Nithyananda Peetham along with my wife, mother and 5 year-old son. There was a sudden turn of events in the beginning of the year 2010, which changed the course of my life and of millions who follow Swamiji.

On January 1st 2010, a man named Sridhar came to the Aadheenam during Swamiji's birthday celebrations. During the darshan, he slipped a piece of paper to Swamiji's secretary, informing us of an imminent danger of forces working against us. He offered to help, as he was an advocate. However, in due course of time, he proved to be a middle-man negotiating on behalf of conspirators who wanted to extort money by blackmailing Swamiji. They wanted 100 crores, and if this was not given, they threatened to release morphed photos of Swamiji to the media. 100 crores was an amount we could not even comprehend, much less afford. We were feeling absolutely panicked and helpless. Our entire lives were at stake. The life that my family and I had chosen to live, leaving society and our jobs, settling in an ashram with our son - it felt like all that was slipping away from our grasp.

Soon after the threats, on March 2nd 2010, they released a fabricated video of Swamiji on a Tamil channel named Sun Television. I immediately contacted Sridhar, as he was the one who promised to speak to the conspirators not to release the morphed video. Sridhar then told me to meet Ayyappan, the right-hand man of Sun Television Networks' then Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Hansraj Saxena. We decided to meet in Chennai, and the next morning, on March 3rd, I immediately left for Chennai.

Sridhar straightaway demanded for five lakhs (Five Hundred Thousand Rupees) from us, saying that it was the token amount for starting negotiations. That was when I realised that he was never on our side, but simply a middleman negotiating on behalf of our attackers. He also revealed that Lenin Karuppan and Arathi Rao – former volunteers at the Bengaluru Aadheenam - were involved in the scam. We could not believe this! Slowly the extent of this extortion scam was coming to light, and we couldn't help but wonder, was there more to it than just blackmail?

I met Ayyappan who held me hostage to extort money

March 3rd, 2010

I met Ayyappan at his Chennai office and questioned him about the fake video. Ayyappan then started the second round of the blackmails by demanding 60 crores (600 million Rupees). He said that the telecast of the fake video would be stopped, and they would not slap false cases against Swamiji, as they were planning to, if we paid the ransom. He told me that all those involved in this extortion were under his control. He threatened me, saying that if their demands were not met, the consequences would be disastrous. I tried to keep my head clear to figure out what to do. At all costs, I wanted to prevent a disaster from happening but such blackmailers had already proven that they could not be trusted. I knew very well that we could not afford what he was asking.

As the night progressed, I was getting ready to leave Ayyappan's office. However, a few of his henchmen blocked the exit and did not allow me to leave. That night, I was detained in his office. I was not allowed to leave till their ransom was paid. The entire night, I was tortured, beaten and abused. I had never felt so helpless in my life.

March 4th, 2010: After spending a whole night detained by Ayyappan, the next day, I begged to be released to arrange for money. Ayyappan, after long deliberation, seized my mobile phone and released me. He warned me that my every movement would be tracked and threatened that I would not be able to leave Chennai alive if I do not hand over the expected money. Meanwhile, Sridhar, the original blackmailer, posing as an advocate on our side, convened a press meet in Chennai and forced me to address the press. Sridhar had already begun addressing the press much before I could reach the venue. In the press meet, I made a very clear statement about the conspiracy against Swamiji and about the fake video.

Below is an article about the first press meet in Chennai, where Atmaprabha Swami speaks out about the fake video:

தினர் சாண், கூடுதல் இயக்குனர் (சட்டம்-ஒழுங்கு) கே.ராதாகிருஷ்ணன், சென்னை போலீஸ் கமிஷனர் ராஜேந்திரன், சைபர்குற்ற அமைப்பிரிவு [?] போர் கலந்து கொண்டனர். Dinathanthi 5 may 2010 /pg 7

டி.வி.யில் காட்டப்பட்ட ஆபாச காட்சியில் வருவது நித்யானந்தா அல்ல

ஆசிரம அதிகாரி பேட்டி

சென்னை, மார்ச்.5-

ஸ்ரீ நித்ய ஆத்ம பிரமானந்தா

ளது.

சுவாமி நித்யானந்தர் பெயரை களங்கப்படுத்தவே

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ஜாமீன் மனு

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