CHENNAI: “We are going back to Swami Nithyananda’s Bidadi Ashram in Bangalore of our own free will to perform spiritual service. Please, do not take cognisance of any false complaint filed by our parents either against us or Parahamsar Nithyanandar or other ashramites…” So goes a written plea of two Kanyakumari sisters to City Police Commissioner T Rajendran, whom they met here on Wednesday.
In the petition, S Krishneswari alias Nithyapreethananda (29) and S Chitreswari alias Nithyapravanananda (28), both postgraduates in Economics, said they hooked up with Swami Nithyananda’s ashram in Bidadi with the written consent of their father Sivabalan and mother Lakshmi in 2006. The two of them passed several courses conducted by the ashram where they served as ‘brahmacharinis’.
“Our father had immense respect for our guru Paramahamsar Nithyananda and visited us often at the ashram,” the petition said. “However, when false charges were made against the Swami in March last, our father took us home.”
The sisters, who are PhD scholars, alleged that their parents tried to convert them and also made efforts to get them married. They refused to comply and escaped to their uncle Viswaroopananda’s house on Appar Swami Kovil Street in Mylapore here.
The two said they were preparing to return to Bidadi Ashram in Bangalore, but that their parents have threatened to lodge a police complaint of kidnapping against Swami Nithyananda’s men and have them and the Swami arrested.
Asserting that they were going to the ashram of their own free will, without any coercion or provocation, the sisters appealed to the CoP not to heed any false complaint filed by their parents against Swami Nithyananda or them.
Asked about the sex tape showing the Swami in a compromising position with an actress, they said the video was fake and expressed confidence that he would be proved innocent in the case.
The sisters said there were about 300 women in the ashram and those who were married lived with their families.