Hunt on for self-styled godman, wardens’ role under lens

The Capital on Wednesday woke up to shocking accusations of sexual harassment 17 students of a private management institute in southwest Delhi's levelled against their director Swami Chaitanyananda who is on the run.

Delhi police issued a lookout notice for the self styled godman who ran the institute with top cops saying the idea is to prevent him from leaving the country.

Chaitanyananda Saraswati, director at Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management in Vasant Kunj, is facing allegations of sending lewd messages and forcing physical contact with the girls.

The institute has since distanced itself from the man.

Meanwhile, as the search for Chaitanyananda Saraswati intensifies, investigators shifted their focus to the role of three hostel wardens who allegedly acted as conduits between the accused and female students. Sources told The Tribune that Delhi Police have recorded the statements of these three administrators from the institute’s women’s hostel in Vasant Kunj, after survivors claimed it was they who regularly sent students to the Baba and directed them to comply.

The Delhi Police have booked Chaitanyananda Saraswati and ramped up searches across Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand to nab him.

According to the complaint, whenever Chaitanyananda summoned girl students through WhatsApp messages, the wardens ensured that the messages were later deleted from the victims’ phones. Police sources said the three women were “very close to the Baba” and allegedly facilitated his access to students who were pursuing management courses under the EWS scholarship quota.

Investigators have also uncovered patterns of abuse stretching back 16 years, following the recovery of incriminating WhatsApp messages from the phones of 50 women. These records indicate that numerous women were subjected to obscene messages and unwanted physical contact.

Sources said he had been targeting women for over a decade and a half. They believe he was emboldened by the fact that two previous molestation complaints, in 2009 and 2016, did not result in action against him.

In one message, he promised a woman wealth to lure her, while in another he threatened a student with poor marks, warning, “If you don’t do as I say, I will make sure your grades suffer.”

Sources revealed that the Baba would initially contact his victims through WhatsApp messages or calls. Early messages often appeared innocuous, but when responses did not meet his demands, he increased the pressure, often resorting to threats linked to academic performance.

What adds to the outrage is that the second known case originated from a young woman in the same Vasant Kunj ashram, yet it seems neither the authorities nor the ashram took any effective action at the time.