CID: Interrogating Swami Nithyananda was like a punishment

theeradha vilayatu pillai:):):P:P, originally uploaded by maran d learner.

This symbolic caricature gesture entitled 'PLAYBOY NITHYA SPL' seems to be showing the attitude of the Tantric Nithyananda towards the CID sleuths questioning him. News on print media as well as the electronic media brings out news headlines totally unexpected of a swami or guru, with new charges being slapped against him such as his alleged involvement in smuggling gold, flouting of FERA/ FEMA regulations, possession of banned items like tiger skins, and skins/hides of leopards, spotted deer, wild dogs, etc., and a historic first for any godman of any denomination in the form of making his devotees sign Non-Disclosure Agreements on sexual activities that they are expected to perform in his Ashram.

The author of this caricature says, "India is the land of many saints and gurus but not all of them are good. Very often, we hear scandals and fraud against these gurus. Swamy Nithyananda fraud is the latest addition in this regard. Last month a private news channel released a shocking scandal video, where Swamy Nithyananda was caught having sex with a top Tamil actress. This video sent shockwaves across India… Swamy Nithyananda or so-called Paramahamsa Nithyananda is known as the guru of Tamil Nadu. He has been very popular among people and he had significant followers. After the release of the video tape, people accused him fraud. He made them believe that he is a swamy.... at last he has arrested by police yesterday . . .!! Any way our poor people not going to stop believing this kinda poli saamiyars. . !!!"

An interesting news item that appeared in a newspaper says IPL (Indian Premier League) eclipsed SPL (Sex Premier League) because the IPL news encompassed all the three major religions of India, Cricket, Bollywood and Politics. The news even went on to say IPL this year was juicier and spicier than SPL.

Here is an example of how Nithya Tantric power rendered the interrogators brain-dead. A news item from NDTV had the headline “Interrogating Sex Swami was like a 'punishment',” because ‘when the officers were done with their questions for the day, they played the tape and found it did not have any sound. The tape ran like a silent movie in colour… Hours of effort had gone waste.’

After the CID officers transported the swami and his accomplice from his hideout in Solan district in Himachal Pradesh to Bangalore on April 21, the swami was remanded by the Ramanagara local court to police custody and they took him to their new interrogation cell in Bangalore. They interrogated the swami in the cell and recorded everything and when they played back the recordings, it was just like a movie of the silent era! No sound at all; and nothing could be made out of what the godman said.

"It was very difficult to make him speak. And then our efforts went waste thanks to our poor technical knowledge. We had to repeat the entire exercise on Sunday," a CID source said. “There was a problem with the audio output of the recording. The video was just fine. When the statement was recorded the sound was audible but the output on the computer was considerably muted," explained a technician.

The interrogators had to ask the same questions again, and Nithyananda smiled his trademark grin at his interrogators as usual before getting into his trance-like state, the state in which his encounters with Ranjitha and others were recorded. “He has been either slipping into sleep every now and then or kept chanting mantras whenever the police asked him an important question”, the police sources said.

"It was horrible. Imagine having to repeat the entire exercise! It was like a punishment for us," said the interrogators.

Yet another report said Nityananda Swami was shown the video that was shot by his driver Lenin Karuppan and aired by a popular TV channel. The Smiling Swami recognized Ranjitha, but he could not recognize the man in action (he himself!).

Then, as the CID sleuths could not complete the interrogation, he was presented before the additional civil judge (senior division), at Ramanagara, who ordered his police custody till April 29. The investigators were also awaiting the technical report from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Hyderabad on the CDs seized from his Ashram. Also, the counsel for the police argued that several witnesses, including the Tamil actress, were yet to be interviewed.

But Paramahamsa Nithyananda complained of severe chest pain on the way back and he had to be admitted to the government-run Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology on Bannerghatta Road. But the doctors expressed satisfaction over his health, as an Electrocardiography (ECG) test revealed that his heart condition was normal. The Swami also underwent a treadmill test that showed normal results. So he was discharged to police custody. The swami’s disciple, Nithya Bhaktananda Swami, aka Gopal Seelam Reddy, is also under judicial custody.

The godman used to say, “I am not here to give you words, but I am here to take you beyond words”, and he is virtually doing so to the interrogators now. As these godmen are supposed to know the past, present (tense!) and the future, he seems to have foreseen the ‘present times’, and would have reserved those words for the interrogators!

The Karnataka High Court will hear a bail application filed by the swami’s counsel HS Chandramouli on April 29.