Sri Sri Ravishankar has strong words for Nithyananda

While the Swami Nithyananda scandal has shocked devotees across the country, religious and spiritual leaders have expressed dismay over the development. Well-known spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has called the discredited swami’s acts “unpardonable”.

Meanwhile, the man who used to rule over lakhs of devotees cools his heels in police custody. He is himself perhaps seeking divine intervention to save him from further humiliation.

According to sources in the Karnataka police department, Nithyananda was not an easy nut to crack. The police are looking into all aspects of his deeds, which include a network of financial transactions.

A Karnataka court on Wednesday extended Nithyananda’s police custody by two more days even as he moved Madras High Court seeking anticipatory bail in three cheating cases. A sessions court at Ramanagaram extended custody on a plea by the CID, seeking more time as Nithyananda’s questioning had to be halted after he was hospitalised for a day.

An Art of Living Foundation statement quoted Sri Sri Ravishankar as saying in Cincinnati that Nithya-nanda, now in custody, “has violated UNAIDS guidelines as well as the rules of tantra.”

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar further said, “Only a householder is entitled to tantric sex. Claiming to be a monk and using so many people for one’s pleasure is unpardonable. He should have had one partner and announced himself as a tantric guru. It has caused damage to the faith of people in the institution and traumatised many.”

Nithyananda, who hails from the spiritual town of Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, has a diploma in mechanical engineering and worked for an auto company. He comes from a lower middle class family and sources confirm that his mother lives in Bidadi Ashram.

The CID has recovered many laptops, high capacity hard discs, mobile phones and money, apart from important documents to nail his lies.

Meanwhile, CID sleuths have started questioning Lenin Karuppan, a former driver of the swami, who had lodged a complaint in Chennai sometime ago. The driver had admitted he recorded the swami’s bedroom act with Tamil film actress Ranjitha and leaked it to the media.

Lenin had also said he feared for his life.

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