He has allegedly duped several people to the tune of lakhs of rupees and married six women. The police recovered Rs 2.37 lakh in cash and jewellery worth Rs 1.12 lakh from him.
The ill-gotten wealth was routed to his ‘only bad habit,’ gambling at the race courses in places like Bangalore and Mysore.
Background
Nithyananda, son of Jarappa Poojary of Kodialbail, studied till class VI at St Aloysius School in Mangalore. After schooling, he worked as an electrician. He married Vasanthi in Mangalore and left her in just three months. Then he wed Komale of Kasargod, but that marriage too did not last long.
His parents threw him out of the house after the marriage with Komale broke. Nithyananda then met two Bangalore-based realtors in Mangalore and moved to Bangalore. For a while, he was into real estate business. He learnt astrology from Rangaraju of Cubbon Park area.
He changed his surname from Poojary to Shastri, to go with the new profession. He then married Jayalakshmi, a divorcee, and they settled in Ullalu Upanagar.
Modus operandi
His ‘prey’ were rich people with problems. Nithyananda would offer to perform special poojas at the Mookambika Temple in Kollur to usher in good times for them.
For others, Nithyananda would offer to perform poojas at their homes to ward off evil spirits.
His other offerings had other ‘weapons,’ Sri Chakra and Sudarshan Chakra, to bring good health and wealth. He collected a fee, ranging from Rs 5,000 to 20,000 for his services.
When his fake poojas failed, he would introduce his customers to those with black money, to avail of loan at low interest rates, with a commission for himself. In all, he has collected commission of Rs 50 lakh.
His ‘prize catch’ was an elderly woman, R T Nagar resident Vijaya Saraswathi, from whom he collected Rs 20 lakh in 2008, promising he would help her son get over his drug addiction and pass his exams, and to heal her daughter’s marital rift.
Other wives
Not stopping at marrying Jayalakshmi, Nithyananda wed Sundari of Charmadi, where he duped several people. From Charmadi, he moved to Mysore, where he married Pavithra.
Last year, he parted ways with her, went to Mangalore and married Shakeela. He has a one-year-old daughter from Shakeela. He has no children from the other wives.
Donations to temples
Not all of his earnings did he spend on gambling, though. He has donated Rs 50,000 to a temple at Yaravinahalli village in Tumkur, a costly ‘paduka’ to the Chamundeshwari temple in Mysore and an expensive ‘pallakki’ to the Panchalingeshwara tesmple at Talkad.
Runs out of luck
It took a doubting Thomas to put an end to Nithyananda’s cheating spree. Madhusudan of Chamarajpet was deep in debt. The ‘astrologer’ collected Rs 3.4 lakh from him for a pooja.
He promised to get a loan for Madhusudhan at a low interest rate, but for a commission of Rs 20,000. Suspicious, Madhusudan informed police.
As arranged by police, Madhusudhan asked Nithyananda to come to a specific point in Chamarajpet to collect the money. He landed there, and soon found himself behind the bars.