New Delhi: Swami Chaitanyanand Saraswati, accused of sexually harassing several women students, allegedly threatened them to comply with his demands or face dire consequences, officials revealed.
The accused, director of the reputed Sri Sharda Institute of Indian Management in Delhi’s posh Vasant Kunj, is facing a criminal case for allegedly targeting female students enrolled in post-graduate management diploma courses under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) scholarship category.
According to investigators, Chaitanyananda would call female students to his room late at night and threaten to fail them or reduce their grades if they resisted his advances.
So far, police have recorded the statements of three wardens of the institute. All three are accused of helping Chaitanyananda delete incriminating messages.
WhatsApp chats recovered from the phones of around 50 women students at the institute have revealed details of abuse spanning 16 years, including sexually explicit text messages and incidents of forced physical contact.
Allegations have also surfaced about the deletion of CCTV footage, with the DVR now sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for examination.
Officials said Chaitanyananda, born Partha Sarathy in Odisha, has allegedly been preying on women for nearly two decades, emboldened by his ability to escape previous molestation charges in 2009 and 2016.
This time, the scandal came to light when 17 women lodged complaints at the Defence Colony Police Station in early August. At the time, Chaitanyananda was in London, but he was last traced to Agra.
He later filed an anticipatory bail petition in the Delhi High Court but withdrew it soon after.
Police have launched raids across Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan in search of the absconding accused.
A Lookout Circular has also been issued to prevent him from fleeing the country. Investigators revealed that all the complainants were residents of the institute’s hostel built on the monastery’s land, making them vulnerable to exploitation.
Adding to the controversy, police recovered multiple forged number plates from Chaitanyananda’s luxury red Volvo car, all carrying fake United Nations insignia with different digits.
Investigations confirmed that none of the plates were issued by the UN and had been fabricated by the accused himself. The car has been seized as part of the ongoing probe.
Investigations are underway, and further details are awaited.
(IANS)
