NEW DELHI – The Delhi Police are stepping up their search for Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, a self-proclaimed “godman” and former head of a private management college in Vasant Kunj. He is suspected of sexually assaulting several female pupils. Saraswati has been given a lookout circular (LOC) to keep him from leaving the country. Since August 4, he has been on the run.
Amit Goel, the Deputy Commissioner of Police for the Southwest, said that so far, the inquiry shows that Saraswati especially went after women who were accepted to the institute under the EWS (Economically Weaker Section) quota.
Pattern of Threats and Luring Police have taken testimony from 32 female students. Seventeen of them say they had “obscene WhatsApp messages” and unwanted physical advances from the “godman.” The investigation found that Saraswati, who is also known as Parthsarthy, used threats and lies to get what he wanted.
Victims’ statements and checked phones show that Saraswati sent texts saying, “Come to my room” and “I’ll take you on a trip abroad; you won’t have to pay anything.” He also allegedly used threats to get others to do what he wanted, sending messages like, “If you don’t listen to me, I will make sure you fail your exams.”
Investigators have looked at the phones of more than 50 students and found that many of them had deleted the chats that were used as evidence. This is being looked into further.
Warden’s involvement and missing proof
The FIR identifies three female wardens who are thought to have helped Saraswati. These wardens are said to have forced pupils to do what he wanted and helped them delete chats that could have gotten them in trouble from their phones.
Police also think that some CCTV footage from the school may have been removed. Digital video recorders, network video recorders, and hard disks have been taken from the site and transferred to a forensic lab for testing.
Saraswati was a member of the management committee at the Shri Sharada Institute of Indian Management. She is also being looked into for two more molestation cases from 2009 and 2016. Police have put together many squads to find him. His last known location was Agra. Saraswati has been charged with breaking several parts of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
In another event, authorities took a Volvo luxury car that belonged to Saraswati from the basement of the school. The car had a fake United Nations diplomatic number plate on it. There is a separate FIR for this crime. The Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri, which operates the school, has also officially cut all relations with Saraswati and criticized his “illegal” and “inappropriate” actions.