Accused monk alleges students were ‘tutored’, files bail plea in Delhi court

Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati claimed he had no direct interaction with students as he served only as the chairman-cum-managing director of the institute.

Self-styled monk Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, accused of molesting 17 students of a private management institute, moved a bail plea before a Delhi court on Thursday, alleging that the complainants were “tutored” and had framed him because of his enforcement of “strict discipline” at the institute.

Saraswati claimed that several students who benefited from the institute later turned against him under Murali’s influence.

In his plea, filed through advocate Manish Gandhi, Saraswati claimed he had no direct interaction with students as he served only as the chairman-cum-managing director of the institute. “The applicant’s role was confined to policy-making, vision and overall guidance, ensuring the institute upheld the highest standards of education, discipline and research,” the plea stated.

Saraswati, 62, is named as an accused in five criminal cases — two registered in 2009 and 2016, and three this year — for offences including mass molestation, cheating, and using forged diplomatic number plates on luxury cars.

While the bail plea was set to be heard on Thursday before additional sessions judge Atul Ahlawat of Patiala House Courts, the judge recused himself and the matter has been sent to the principal district and sessions judge, who will mark the case to a different judge on Friday, who will hear the arguments.

Saraswati’s bail petition alleged that the students who accused him of molestation were “tutored by the complainant”, PA Murali, administrator of the Sri Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, to make false depositions and tarnish his reputation. “The statements of several tutored female students were hurriedly recorded and the present FIR was lodged in a mechanical and arbitrary fashion without any application of mind,” it said.

Evading arrest since August 5, when the molestation FIR was lodged against him, he was arrested from a hotel in Agra on September 27 and produced before a magistrate a day later, wherein police sought a five-day custody. Granting the request, the court noted that his custodial interrogation was essential for progress of the investigation and recovery of relevant evidence.

A Delhi court had earlier rejected his anticipatory bail plea in one of the forgery cases. After his police remand ended, Saraswati was sent to judicial custody on October 2 for 14 days and is to be produced again before a magistrate on October 15.

In his bail plea, Saraswati further claimed that several students who benefited from the institute later turned against him under Murali’s influence, while others acted out of “resentment” over not securing career opportunities. “Taking undue advantage of such disgruntlement, Mr Murali manipulated and tutored these female students, as part of a larger conspiracy, to falsely implicate the applicant,” it alleged.