This NDTV video report dated April 22, 2010 says, “Insiders say supporters of Nithyananda, who is confident of securing bail in court today, tipped off CID about his Himachal Pradesh hideout.”
But it cannot be true, as much as some other reports that claim that Swami Nityananda stage-managed his capture by the police so that he will be under full media glare and that will save him from harsh treatment by the police. There are also others who claim that Nithyananda is quite afraid that the public will lynch him for which reason he went into hiding after the alleged sex tapes were aired by TV channels and flooded the internet, especially YouTube. It may be noted that immediately after the news of his alleged sex relations with many men and women came out, his Ashram at Bidadi near Bangalore was vandalized by the enraged local people.
According to this report, Swami Nityananda was taken to a hospital for a medical checkup, and he was expected to be presented before the court, upon which, possibly he can be under custody/ in prison for 14 days. Before he was brought to Bangalore from his hideout in a remote village in Himachal Pradesh, from where a joint team of Himachal Pradesh Police and Karnataka Police apprehended him, Karnataka Police had raided his ashram and captured records including hard disks of computers.
According to official sources, Karnataka Police was monitoring his phone calls for about two weeks and based on that they were able to locate Swami Nityananda in the remote mountainous village in Himachal Pradesh. He had all the communication equipments including cellphones, video cameras and laptops that the police team captured. Most of the calls that Swami Nityananda made was to USA, where he has the biggest investments and from where most of his money came from.
According to a report, his Vedic Temple in Los Angeles (California, USA) is closed for devotees following rift between his supporters and opponents. His American money-spinning organization, Life Bliss Foundation that used to be the main arm to popularize “Nitya Yoga” and “Nitya Mediation” invented by him, also seems to be affected as their website is defunct now. His Malaysian Ashram said they are ready to cooperate with Indian authorities, and they only conduct some rituals once in a while. Swami Nityananda’s Singapore Ashram is also said to have distanced itself from him.
Nithyananda seems to be more worried about his American investments and their future. Worse, Swami Nityananda cannot visit USA for fear of being arrested there by the American police as already a case is filed in USA.
It is reported, Swami Nityananda is afraid of facing prosecution in the US following “a case lodged by a US citizen Douglas Mckellor before the California State Attorney-General Jerry Brown, accusing the Swami of fraud, financial irregularities and physical abuse of devotees in USA. McKellor, a former devotee, also known as Swami Nithya Prabha, is a resident of San Jose in California and came in contact with Nityananda in 2007, and later he became the head of the California branch of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam. Douglas attended Nithyananda's enlightenment program held at Los Angeles ashram, where he said he paid Swami Nityananda a fee of $400,000 for the workshop and the enlightenment certificate. Nithyananda sexually exploited his American devotees, the American said in his complaint”.
The chief of his American operations, Gopal Sheelum Reddy alias Nitya Bhaktananda, was also arrested along with Nithyananda, and brought to Bangalore. He was along with his master ever since Swami Nityananda went into ‘spiritual seclusion’, in order to take care of him. However, there is a power struggle going on in USA, between two groups of his devotees to take control of Swami Nityananda’s assets worth several millions of dollars.
A YouTube video posted by his organization shows men, women and children of all age groups who have been staying in his ashram for many years and they swear unconditional allegiance to Swami Nityananda and they say that all the allegations against him are false.
In reports posted in his websites/blogs, his organization claims that his popularity has multiplied many times; in fact Swami Nityananda is more popular now than he was before the sex tapes were aired. His blogs are full of requests by his devotees to come back and guide them and the world to a truthful spiritual life.
As things stand now, nothing is going to happen to Swami Nityananda just because no victim has come forward to testify against him. Neither charges of sex nor unnatural sex can be proved unless victims come forward and testify. Those who allege fraud cases against him also cannot do anything just because they were insiders once, and they cannot now claim innocence. Almost all who now clamour against him are people who committed the same crimes; if at all any crime was committed.
Now the only things that can be said against him are that he cheated his devotees by claiming that he was a celibate/ brahmachari, or he hurt religious sentiments. Good, if people can fight against fake gurus and prevent them from exploiting Indian culture, Hinduism, etc. But how many are there to fight them, with so many godmen being apprehended recently? All these godmen were ordinary men once, and the same devotees fed them with money, women and all that they oppose now!
Nithyananda’s biographer claims that more than 50% of what Nithyananda preaches is from Osho, and the rest is from Indian scriptures. But Osho was more honest and he openly advised his followers and inmates of his Ashram to practice safe sex, use condoms, etc., even much before the governments, including the US, started campaigning against HIV/AIDS!
There can be real trouble if questions of tax evasion, financial irregularities, encroachment of land etc., are vigorously taken up by the concerned authorities. That too is not going to happen as most people in the government are too religious and afraid of godmen! They will act only if the public make a hue and cry, or courts direct them to do so. So, Nithyam Anandam! Jai Ho!
