Govt has cancelled Nithyananda's passport: MEA

The Government of Ecuador on Friday clarified that it had denied the request by self-styled godman Nithyananda, who had been accused of rape in India.

The Embassy of Ecuador in New Delhi also made it clear that the Government of the South American nation had not helped Nithyananda to buy any land or island.

The Ministry of External Affairs of the Government of India meanwhile stated that while it had cancelled the passport of Nithyananda, it had not received any communique from any agency so far to initiate the process to seek his extradition.

“We have sensitized all our missions and posts overseas and told them to inform local governments in the respective countries about him (Nithyananda),” Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

Nithyananda of late purportedly claimed on a website to have founded his own country called “Kailassa”. “Setting up a website is different from setting up a nation,” the MEA spokesperson dismissed the claim.

The MEA had cancelled the passport of Nithyananda before its validity was to expire in 2018. Though he had applied for a fresh passport, he had not been granted one in view of the adverse police report and the cases pending against him, said Kumar.

The Embassy of Ecuador in New Delhi categorically denied that the self-styled guru had been given asylum by the Government of the South American country or had been helped “in purchasing any land or island in South America near or far” from it.

“Moreover,” it added, “Ecuador denied the request for international personal protection (refuge) made by Mr Nithyananda before Ecuador and later on, Mr Nithyananda left Ecuador”.

Sources said that Ecuador conveyed to Government of India that he might have left for Haiti.