Chaitanyananda claims threat to his life; Delhi court seeks report from prison authorities

Chaitanyananda Saraswati, accused of sexually harassing 16 students at a private institute in southwest Delhi, claimed before a Delhi court that there was a threat to his life inside the Tihar prison.

The self-styled godman, who is also the former chairman of the management institute, is in judicial custody over allegations that he molested several women.

On Friday, he was produced before Judicial Magistrate Animesh Kumar on completion of his 14-day judicial custody, when he made the claim.

Chaitanyananda also said he was not allowed to wear his monk’s robes despite repeated applications before the prison authorities, nor was he allowed the restricted diet for monks.

Seeking a detailed status report from the prison authorities, the court posted the matter for further proceedings on November 18.

Earlier, on November 7, Chaitanyananda withdrew his bail plea before a sessions court. His counsel told Additional Sessions Judge Deepti Devesh that the plea was being withdrawn as the charges needed to be examined after the filing of the chargesheet.

Chaityanand’s bail plea claimed that the case was based on “tutored” complainants because he enforced strict discipline in the institute.

On October 27, Delhi Police had informed the sessions court that they had examined nine out of the 16 victims in the case.

On October 13, the sessions court observed that the gravity of the offence increased multifold, given the number of victims.

According to the FIR, Chaitanyananda allegedly forced female students to visit his quarters late at night and sent them inappropriate text messages at odd hours.

He allegedly kept track of the students’ movements through his phone.

The 62-year-old accused was apprehended from Agra on September 28.