BANGALORE: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has interrogated Tamil film actress Ranjitha in the case involving the self-styled godman Swami Nithyananda.
A source in CID, who did not wish to be identified, said the actress said the video footage was morphed after promising to give a statement against Nithyananda.
A video showing the swami with the actress in a compromising position was leaked to the media, which had led to a public uproar and allegations of rape and hurting of religious sensibilities against him.
Her statement was recorded after Deputy Inspector General of Police of CID Charan Reddy and his team recently visited Chennai.
Ranjitha had left for the US after the scandal broke out to avoid the media and the police.
Sources said she conveyed to the CID over phone and through emails after Nithyananda's release from jail that she would return to Chennai and give her statement against him.
But she turned hostile when she was interrogated by the CID police, said the source.
According to CID sources, Nithyananda, during interrogation, had confessed that the video footage was original. Even the Hyderabad forensic laboratory report had confirmed that the video footage was not morphed.
The CID team reportedly stressed this point before Ranjitha, but she reportedly insisted that the video was morphed.
A CID officer on condition of anonymity said Nithyananda had initially also told interrogators that he was not in a position to have intercourse as he was impotent, but when the CID decided to have a medical test conducted on him in Victoria Hospital, he changed his statement.
The officer said Nithyananda later said he had sexual intercourse with many people, including at least 15 devotees.
Another witness in the Nithyananda case, Vinay Bharadwaj, an engineer in USA, has postponed his trip to the state. He had promised to give statement against the tainted swami to the CID.
Bharadwaj, who hails from Mysore, had told the CID police on phone and through email that he would give statement on the issue in September when he will visit Mysore. But, he has postponed his trip.
Sources said some devotees of Nithyananda Ashram in New Jersey had threatened to file a criminal case against him if he gave a statement against the swami.