Nityananda Swami and his associates taken to Bangalore

A joint team of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh CID on Thursday left for Bangalore with Nityananda, who was arrested from Solan district on Wednesday, HP Additional Director General of Police (CID) I D Bhandari told reporters. The self-styled godman and four associates others have been taken to Chandigarh by road under heavy security from where they will fly to Bangalore via Mumbai, Bhandari added.

32-year-old Nityananda and others were produced before Judicial Magistrate P S Samyal here last night who granted them four days transit remand. The HP CID will inquire as how the godman came here and his local contacts who helped him in hiding, he said.

The self-styled godman had gone into hiding after a purported video footage showing him in a compromising position with a Tamil actress was aired on local TV channels on March two. Bhandari said during interrogation here last evening, the godman had said he had come to Mamlig village of Solan from Haridwar over a fortnight back to escape from the media glare till disposal of his anticipatory bail application in Karnataka. It also came into light that the godman was planning to open a school at Mamlig where he was hiding in a house of a Delhi-based businessman, Bhandari added.