Self-styled godman’s aides held for abetment, threatening students

New Delhi: Three women officials of a private institute here, including an associate dean and senior faculty members, have been arrested in connection with alleged

harassment of female students by self-styled godman Chaitanyanand Saraswati, police said on Thursday.

The accused, identified as Associate Dean Shweta Sharma, Executive Director Bhawna Kapil and Senior Faculty Kajal, were booked for abetment, threatening, and destruction of evidence, they said.

During interrogation, they admitted following directions of 62-year-old Saraswati and pressuring students under the pretext of discipline

and punctuality, they said, adding that they used to threaten the victims and make them delete Saraswati’s lewd messages from their phone.

A police team in Almora visited the alleged guest house where Saraswati had reportedly stayed with the girl students and confirmed the details, a senior police officer said.

Digital evidence recovered from mobile phones reportedly showed Saraswati making inappropriate comments on photos of students shared in a yoga group on a messaging application, he said.

Saraswati was arrested from Agra last Sunday after being on the run. Police had earlier taken him to the campus of the private institute in Delhi, where he allegedly sexually harassed 17 students, for investigations and site identification.

During a fresh search on Wednesday, police seized pornographic material, a sex toy, and several CDs from his premises, a senior officer privy to the probe said.