Nithyananda may have forged birth documents

Documents available with Deccan Herald show that in at least two official documents Nithyananda provided different dates of birth, bringing into question not only his age.
There are already question marks over the mechanical engineering diploma that he had supposedly earned from a Vellore polytechnic college.

A copy of the US visa issued to him from the US Consulate in Chennai in 2003 shows his date of birth to be March 13, 1977. This means that at the time of applying for the US visa, he had provided the Consulate authorities with document(s) that showed his date of birth as reflected in the travel paper stamped on his passport (No E2122927).

But in two other documents –– petitions filed along with sworn affidavits –– in the Karnataka High Court last week he has stated that his date of birth is January 1, 1978. In the petitions, praying for “quashing the entire proceedings including the investigation” pending against him at Bidadi police station near here, Nithyananda’s lawyer claims: “The petitioner was born on January 1, 1978, in Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu.”

There is more about his age in a Nithyananda biography, relevant sections of which are available with Deccan Herald. The author writes: “Nithyananda was born on January 1, 1978, at 32 minutes past midnight in the holy town of Tiruvannamalai in South India.” The same author writes that Nithyananda was born in the Tamil month of “Margazhi” (December-January) and likens his birth to that of Krishna.

A city-based advocate Siji Malayil said furnishing two different dates of birth for official purposes could invite criminal action for cheating and forgery. Malayil added that in the case of Nithyananda, the Indian Penal Code’s Section 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purposes of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document) could be evoked.

In view of suspected forgery of birth documents and misrepresentation of his date of birth, the American authorities are believed to have begun to look into the manner in which Nithyananda obtained US visa. This enquiry could form the basis of a wider probe into the activities of his cult organisations that operate out of several American cities.

Incidentally, the US visa (B1/B2 type) Nithyananda obtained in 2003 was “cancelled pursuant to with prejudice” by American border officials on February 4, 2007, while he was trying to cross over from Canada to the US.

HC petition

The brief introduction of the petitioner becomes relevant and necessary herein, as follows: The petitioner was born on 1st January 1978 in Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu, India and named A Rajasekaran. He is the second son of his parents (late) Sri Arunachalam and Smt Lokanayaki.