The Delhi Police on Thursday continued their efforts to track down and nab the self-styled ‘godman’, Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, who is accused of sexually harassing 17 students at a management institute in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj.
Sharing an update on the ongoing investigation, Additional DCP (South West) Aishwarya Singh told news agency ANI that all possible efforts are underway to nab the accused ‘godman’, adding that the roles of others named in the case are also being probed.
“An FIR has been registered. The statements of the victims are being recorded as per the law. We are progressing in the investigation. Delhi Police is making all efforts to nab the accused ‘Baba’. The role of warden and others is being examined. A search of the premises has been initiated in accordance with the law, and all digital evidence is being collected,” she said.
Singh further noted that a separate FIR was registered after a car with a fraudulent diplomatic number plate was found in the premises of the Shri Sharada Institute of Indian Management.
A team of police also arrived at the Sharada Institute on Thursday afternoon as the probe into the case continues.
The 62-year-old accused has been on the run for over a month now. On Wednesday, police issued a lookout circular (LOC) against Saraswati, alias Parthsarthy, to prevent him from fleeing the country.
While he absconded after being booked for sexual harassment charges by the students of the institute in August, police said that he had been booked in similar cases in the past, but had never been arrested, HT reported.
The ‘godman’ used to target women on scholarships for those from economically weak families.
He allegedly lured the students with promises of foreign trips and threatened them with lower grades. Several female students, in their statements to the police, alleged that they received obscene WhatsApp messages, used abusive language and made unwanted physical advances.
Some of his sleazy messages surfaced: “Come to my room,” “I will take you abroad on a trip, you won’t have to pay anything.”
“Baby, I love you. I adore you, you are looking beautiful today,” he allegedly wrote in messages to another student.
Saraswati has been booked under sections 75(2) (sexual harassment), 79 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
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