Bengaluru / Rape-accused Nithyananda buys island, forms own 'nation' with flag, passport

BENGALURU: Even as the Gujarat police are tracking his whereabouts, rape accused self-styled godman Nithyananda was live on his YouTube channel late on Tuesday evening delivering a discourse on “Paramashivan gnyanam” and “Paramashiva vignyanam” from an island near Trinidad and Tobago.

A website hosted by his ashram claimed that the island, named ‘Kailaasa’, is a Hindu nation with its own flag, passport and emblem.

According to some reports, Nithyananda has bought the island in Ecuador in central Latin America and has declared it an independent, new nation. It is described as “a nation without borders created by dispossessed Hindus around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries”.

While the police are investigating how Nithyananda managed to flee the country though his passport had expired, shockingly, the website says ‘Kailaasa’ has its own “passport”. The symbols on the passport include the flag of Kailaasa, called Rishabha Dhvaja, and features Nithyananda along with Nandi, Lord Shiva’s mount.

The website says, the “new nation” also offers a temple-based ecosystem, science behind the third eye, yoga, meditation, and Gurukul education system. It also offers universal free health care, free education, free food and a temple-based lifestyle for all. The languages of the ‘country’ are stated to be English, Sanskrit and Tamil.

Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs pointed out that it is ‘not a joke’ to declare a purchased piece of land or an island as a ‘nation’. “Other countries have to accept it as a nation and the United Nations too has to recognise it. It is not like going to Gurugram, buying a piece of land and declaring it as a nation,” the source remarked, adding that the MEA is “not taking it seriously”.

Investigating agencies have been monitoring the website closely for the past few weeks. “It seems to have been created in 2018 and was updated a few months ago. The IP was traced to Dallas, Texas, in the USA,” sources said.

Senior police officers in Karnataka said there is no authentic information on the location of controversial godman.

“His whereabouts are not known after he was enlarged on bail in 2012 in a rape case. He has not been seen in Karnataka,” said a senior officer.He added that the website maybe “fictitious and the work of one of his several disciples in the US”. “The Karnataka CID and Gujarat police have approached the Ministry of External Affairs to help locate the fugitive rape-accused godman,” the officer added.

Another senior police officer from Bidadi said, “He is a very intelligent man. His legal team is very strong. He has brainwashed several foreigners and influential people. Though we cannot confirm the authenticity of him purchasing a whole island, he is capable of that. We have seen that happen here in Bidadi.”