Interpol has issued a Blue Corner Notice seeking information about controversial self-styled godman Nithyananda, who had fled the country last year dodging the security agencies after a rape case was filed against him in Karnataka in June 2018.
Interpol has issued ‘blue notice’ against Nityananda on the request of Gujarat Police. A blue notice is issued to locate a person who is missing or is an identified or unidentified criminal or is wanted for a violation of ordinary criminal law.. pic.twitter.com/FhbYuA1azY
— ANI (@ANI) January 22, 2020
Interpol issued the notice so after Gujarat police, who have been in relentless pursuit of rape-accused Nithyananda, requested CBI, which is the nodal body for Interpol matters in India, to issue a Blue Corner Notice against Nithyananda.
A Blue Corner Notice is issued by the international police cooperation body to collect additional information from its member countries about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a crime.
“Interpol issued the Blue Corner Notice against the controversial godman this month,” Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ahmedabad (rural), KT Kamariya said, adding that now the police are working to get Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice, a global arrest warrant, against Nithyananda.
The Gujarat police had registered an FIR against Nithyananda after two girls went missing from his ashram in Ahmedabad in November last year. The ‘Swami’ was charged with kidnapping and wrongful confinement of children to make them collect donations from followers to run his ashram in Ahmedabad. Nithyananda was earlier declared wanted by the Gujarat Police.
Read- Swami Nithyananda flees India after being booked for kidnapping and abusing minor girls
In December last year, the Ministry of External Affairs had confirmed that the self-styled godman’s Indian passport has been cancelled. MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar attending the regional media engagement of the MEA had also confirmed that no agency has yet approached the Ministry with information on the whereabouts of Nithyananda, who is absconding.
Calling the claim of rape-accused Nityananda of forming a new country – Kailaasa through his website, ‘bizarre’, Raveesh Kumar had then said: ‘You can’t form a nation by creating a website’.
Nithyananda, who is over 40 years old, is a native of Tamil Nadu and his real name is Rajashekharan. He had set up his ashram at Bidadi on Bengaluru-Mysore highway almost 20 years ago. Nithyananda, who first hit the national headlines for his alleged video in a compromising position with an actress in early 2010, has been a highly controversial figure. In June last year, a Karnataka court had framed charges against Nithyananda in a rape case. Since then the self-styled godman has been untraceable.
