Fugitive self-styled godman Nithyananda has talked about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nithyananda, accused of rape and torture of his ashram inmates in India, has said those who made fun of him for going into self-isolation is scrambling to find a place where they can quarantine themselves, a media report said.
"Some Indian people had laughed and mocked me when I isolated myself by creating the new country as Kailasaa. Now, the whole world is talking about social distancing. Lord Paramasivam has saved us. Power of God," India Today quoted him as saying.
In December last year, a website hosted by his ashram claimed that he had bought an island from Ecuador and named it ‘Kailaasa.’ He declared it a Hindu nation with its own flag, passport and emblem.
He described it “a nation without borders created by dispossessed Hindus around the world who lost the right to practice Hinduism authentically in their own countries”.
While the police are investigating how Nithyananda managed to flee the country though his passport had expired, shockingly, the website says ‘Kailaasa’ has its own “passport”. The symbols on the passport include the flag of Kailaasa, called Rishabha Dhvaja, and features Nithyananda along with Nandi, Lord Shiva’s mount.
It is his life on this island that he mentions as self-isolation.
Interpol had issued a Blue Corner Notice (BCN) against Nithyananda in Januay, asking member countries to share information on him with India if they find him on their soil.
He is also wanted by the Gujarat police over grave charges of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of children to collect donations for his ashram in Gujarat. The Gujarat police had also asked the Interpol for a BCN against the controversial godman. Nithyananda is facing a trial under Sections 376 (rape), 420 (cheating), 114 (criminal abetment), 201 (disappearance of evidence, giving false information), 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code for allegedly raping a woman disciple at his ashram.