Self-styled godman’s women aides arrested for threatening students

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.

Investigators also recovered lewd chat records on Saraswati’s phone in which he addressed women as “baby doll” and allegedly offered them to clients abroad. Several photos, including forged images with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, former US President Barack Obama, and a UK leader, were also seized.

Saraswati is alleged to have lured women with promises of jobs as flight stewards or positions at his institute and used these pretexts to initiate personal conversations.

Police said his office was designed to resemble a luxury suite to impress women, and he often gave expensive gifts, including jewellery, asking them to share photos and videos of themselves doing yoga.

A senior officer involved in the investigation said, “Saraswati’s attitude reflects no guilt or remorse of any kind.”