Delhi cops nab fugitive ‘monk’ from Agra hotel
The accused, Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, is named as an accused in at least five criminal cases, including alleged mass molestation.
Police arrested a 62-year-old former chairman of a management institute in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj from a hotel in Agra in the early hours of Sunday, roughly two months after he was first booked for allegedly molesting 17 female students and a week after the heinous charges were made public.
The accused, Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, is named as an accused in at least five criminal cases — of which two were lodged in 2009 and 2016 and three this year — for alleged mass molestation, cheating his employers and using forged diplomatic number plates on high-end cars.
He was produced before judicial magistrate Ravi of Patiala House Court on Sunday afternoon and sent to police custody for five days.
The order was yet to be made public.
In its application, police said they need to collect electronic evidence and footage, which requires Saraswati’s custody. The application also said that Swami needs to be confronted with the victims’ statements to corroborate the allegations.
Saraswati is a self-proclaimed monk who posed as a United Nations dignitary and a member of Brics, said the police. He has evaded arrest since August 5, when a first information report under sections 75(2), 79 and 351 (2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was lodged on the complaint of the students of the Shri Sharada Institute of Indian Management, Vasant Kunj.
“At the time of the FIR, he was in London for some work. When he returned, he found out about the case and fled from the city. He hails from Odisha but was not found there as well. We found multiple addresses but he was not there as well,” said a senior police officer, requesting anonymity.
During the investigation, police said raids were conducted in Delhi, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand.
“In the two months, he was continuously changing hideouts and even his looks. We found he stayed at 13 hotels during this time. As per our records, he was staying in Mathura, Agra, Uttarakhand and other places,” said deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Amit Goel.
Agra Commissioner of Police Deepak Kumar said it was a Delhi Police operation and the Agra police helped them trace the exact location of the accused.
“Delhi Police took the accused in custody from a hotel under Tajganj police station limits at around 3am. The Delhi Police team stayed there at the local police station for one hour before taking the accused along to Delhi for further legal proceedings,” he added. Police said they received information that a man looking like a “baba” in saffron clothes was spotted at a hotel.
The matter came to light after an Air Force officer, a group captain at the Directorate of Education, Air Headquarters, received an email some time in July from present and former students at the institute, stating that they were sexually harassed, tortured and molested by the chairman. The students wrote to the air force officer as she is the director of the Directorate of Education at the IAF headquarters and many of the complainants are children of military officials.
Later that month, the officer wrote to Sri Sri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamthanam Dakshinamnya Sri Sharada Peetham (also called Peetham), the organisation which owns the college and other institutions.
The Peetham had begun probing Saraswati in July on charges of fraud when they uncovered allegations of sexual misconduct. On July 19, they filed a criminal complaint against him for allegedly creating a ₹122 crore trust, diverting funds from it and faking lease deeds.
Around August 2, they held a virtual conference with 30 female students (former and present) and took their complaints after the email to the IAF officer came to light.
On August 5, the administrator of the institute lodged a complaint with police compiling the girls’ testimonies. One of the complainants, a 21-year-old student, said how the accused and his associates (female staff at college) allegedly harassed girls from economically weaker sections in the name of deducting marks, failing them or by not returning their original documents.
The accused allegedly sent inappropriate messages, made lewd comments and molested girls, said Goel.
The DCP added that police found CCTVs planted by the accused across the women’s hostel and near the washrooms.
“The complainant alleged that the accused, who was heading the college, is sexually harassing female students pursuing PGDM (Post Graduate Diploma in Management) courses under EWS scholarship. During inquiry, statements of 32 female students were recorded, of which 17 alleged that they received obscene WhatsApp messages, dealt with abusive language from the accused and unwanted physical contact by the accused. The students also alleged that the women, who were serving as faculty/administrators, pressured the girls to comply with the accused’s demands,” Goel added.
Saraswati has five cases lodged against him.
The first was lodged at Defence Colony in 2009 for fraud.The second was a molestation case lodged by a student in Vasant Kunj in 2016. Three other FIRs were lodged this year on charges of molestation, cheating, forgery, etc.
Students alleged that he withheld degrees and original documents, forcing them to talk about their sex lives, have them recorded in his office and molested them.
HT accessed the FIR lodged on August 5 (mass molestation), in which a 2014 batch student alleged the accused sent her texts like “I love you...baby...You are beautiful...” The student alleged that he would apply colours on their faces and hair parting (during Holi) and his associates would force them to comply with all the demands.
The FIR also alleged that many of the messages were deleted by the three female staffers from the phones of the students. “We have asked all three women to join the investigation. They will be booked as per legal proceedings. We have also sent the phones of the students for forensic examination to retrieve their deleted chats with Saraswati” added the DCP.
