‘Come to my room, will take you abroad’: Chaitanyananda's sleazy messages to female students
An officer said that the initial probe has revealed that Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati targeted women who were admitted to the institute under the EWS quota.
Self-styled 'godman' Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, accused of sexually assaulting several female students at a private institute in Delhi, allegedly lured the women with promises of foreign trips and threatened them with lower grades.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest) Amit Goel on Wednesday said that a lookout circular (LOC) has been issued against Saraswati, alias Parthsarthy, to stop him from fleeing the country.
The 'godman' has been booked in five cases, including a molestation case from 2009 and 2016. Saraswati, the former head of a private management college in New Delhi's Vasant Kunj, has been on the run since August 4.
An officer said that the probe so far revealed that Saraswati targeted women who were admitted to the institute under the EWS quota.
‘Come to my room’, ‘Will take you abroad’
DCP Goel said that statements of 32 female students were recorded, of which "17 alleged that they received obscene WhatsApp messages", HT reported. These students alleged that the 'godman' used abusive language and made unwanted physical advances.
One of the messages from Saraswati to the female students read, "Come to my room", while another read, "I will take you abroad on a trip, you won't have to pay anything."
"If you do not listen to me, I will make sure you fail in your exams," another one of his 'threat' messages read.
An officer further said that investigators have examined the phones of over 50 students, and many of them were found to have deleted the incriminating chats from Saraswati.
Saraswati was a sanchalak (member of the management committee) at the Shri Sharada Institute of Indian Management, an institute approved by the All India Council for Technical Education.
In the FIR against the 'godman', three women wardens, who allegedly helped him in pressurising the victims, have also been named. The wardens allegedly forced these students to delete the chats and comply with Saraswati's demands.
Additionally, some CCTV footage is also suspected to have been deleted. Officials collected digital video recorders, network video recorders, and hard disks from the institute and sent them to the Forensic Lab for examination.
Police have formed several teams to track down Saraswati and nab him.
Saraswati has been booked under sections 75(2) (sexual harassment), 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati's last location was traced in Agra, news agency PTI reported, citing a source's claim.
