Nithyananda aide arrested
Sachitananda was allegedly involved in destroying evidence
In a blow to Nithyananda, the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Tuesday arrested Shiva Vallabhaneni, alias Sachitananda, a senior devotee of the man who is enmeshed in a sex scandal, on charges of criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence.
Sachitananda is the third person to be arrested in the case involving Nithyananda who was nabbed by the CID in Solon district of Himachal Pradesh in April this year after he fled following the television expose that showed him in a compromising position with Tamil actress Ranjitha. At that time, another senior Nithyananda devotee Gopal Shilum, alias Bhaktananda, who is a Green Card holder, was also arrested along with $3,000 in cash. They were later released on bail, but their passports were impounded.
CID sources said Sachitananda, who was arrested from Nithayanda’s Bidadi ashram near here, was allegedly involved in destroying evidence related to the non-disclosure agreement that Nithyananda had his devotees sign on to participate in tantric sex and view pornographic material. Investigations against Sachitananda revealed that he deleted or wiped out copies of the non-disclosure agreement from the hard disks of computers and/or laptops at the Bidadi ashram at least a week before the scandal broke on March 2 this year.
It was Sachitananda, originally from Hyderababd, who interacted with the media after the scandal was exposed and had said that Nithyananda had gone to attend the Kumbh Mela in Haridwar.
The police are trying to find out whether Sachitananda is a US citizen and his passport details are being examined. He will be produced in the court of the Ramanagara magistrate on Wednesday.
