In a surprise appearance on some Tamil television channels on Sunday afternoon, Nithyananda sought to take the sting out of the serious charges levelled against him, including “unnatural sexual behaviour,” by former disciple Swami Dharmananda alias Lenin Karuppan.
Five days after the sensational tapes were aired by “Sun TV” and a day after Karuppan filed a complaint with Chennai Police Commissioner T Rajendran, containing a litany of charges and owning up to having directed the sting operation against the godman, the controversial “guru” took viewers by surprise.
In the video clipping, uploaded on his organisation’s website, Nithyananda begins by chanting a shloka before saying: “Dear one and all. There have been many allegations against me and my organisations in recent days. But at the same time, I have received a flood of support from devotees and well-wishers and from worldwide, who have been benefited from my teachings over the years. They are all shocked to hear these allegations. I want to assure all of you that nothing illegal has been done by me or by any of my organisations. We are in the process of collecting evidence to establish the falsity and motive of the smear campaign that has been going on against me...I will address all the allegations and issue a detailed explanation. Meanwhile, I urge everyone not to rush to judgment before all the facts are put on the table and carefully examined.”
Nithyananda’s statement was not in the nature of denial that the man featuring in the sex tape was not him. All he said was that he had not committed anything illegal.
Dressed in an ochre robe, the 33-year-old Nithyananda displayed no reservation or sense of hesitation in adding that he would soon explain and clarify all the issues and meet all the charges. It is not immediately clear from where Nithyananda gave this message, though he is believed to be somewhere in Varanasi in UP, attending the “Kumbh Mela.”
