Chaitanyananda faces fresh FIRs, student abuse claims

A day after recovering a car with a fake diplomatic number plate from his institute, Delhi Police, on Thursday, have seized a second vehicle—a BMW—belonging to Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, accused of sexually harassing at least 17 female students of the SRISIIM institute he ran in Vasant Kunj.

- SHIKHA SALARIA

The institute operated under the aegis of the Shri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamsthana Dakshinamnaya Shri Sharada Peeth, or the Sringeri Peeth—one of the four principal monasteries of the Advaita school of Hinduism.

The BMW is likely to serve as crucial evidence in the case, registered at Vasant Kunj North Police Station under sections 79 (insulting the modesty of a woman), 75(2) (sexual harassment) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, based on a complaint from a senior Sharada Peeth official. It is one of three FIRs filed against the self-styled godman.

The other two cases relate to a red Volvo with a fake ‘diplomatic’ number plate and cheating allegations by Peeth officials.