Chennai: With more parents leveling charges against controversial godman Nithyananda that their children were confined at his ashrams, the Gujarat police have reportedly decided to seek the help of Interpol to trace him.
This move comes even as the whereabouts of Nithyananda, who is said to have left the country, are unknown.
The Gujarat High Court, on Tuesday, in response to a habeas corpus filed by the father of two women missing from the Ahmedabad ashram of Nithyananda, directed police to use all available mechanism to trace the duo.
A division bench of Justices S R Brahmbhatt and A P Thaker directed the police to consult Interpol and Ministry of External Affairs, as well as other agencies, to trace the two women, ensure their protection from any threat, and assure them their independent will and choice will be respected by the judiciary. The HC kept 10 December as the next date of hearing.
The police on Tuesday told the court they have apprehension Lopamudra Sharma (21) and Nandhitha Sharma (18), daughters of Janardhana Sharma, who filed the habeas corpus, may have escaped abroad.
Janardhan Sharma contended that his daughters were being ”illegally confined” by inmates of Nithyananda’s ashram.
The sisters have occasionally, through a video messaging service using a proxy network, claimed they were fine and did not want to meet their parents.
The court raised apprehension over these videos shared by the duo and said it cannot rely on the videos at this point of time, adding that it cannot be said statements in them were not being made under pressure.
It said no documents or videos directly sent by them will be considered at this point of time and ordered police to produce the sisters before the court.