Baba’s aide threatened victim to withdraw complaint, arrested

According to investigators, the girl’s father received a call from an unknown number on September 14. The caller allegedly warned that the family would “face dire consequences” unless they withdrew the case.

A man linked to Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati -- the 62-year-old former chairman of a management institute in Delhi’s Vasant Kunj, accused of molesting 17 female students -- has been booked for threatening one of the victims and demanding that she withdraw her complaint, police said on Monday.

The accused disclosed during interrogation that he worked with a local municipality and had come into contact with Saraswati last year through an acquaintance. (Hindustan Times)

According to investigators, the girl’s father received a call from an unknown number on September 14. The caller allegedly warned that the family would “face dire consequences” unless they withdrew the case.

“The caller said the baba is angry that she has filed a case and threatened her father to withdraw the complaint immediately. The family got scared and approached us,” said deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Amit Goel. He added that statements of more than 30 students are still being recorded and will be produced in court.

Police deployed a team to trace the caller, later identified as Hari Singh Kopkoti, a resident of Bageshwar district in Uttarakhand. He was apprehended from his home, brought to Delhi, and booked under sections 232 (threatening a person to give false details) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. His mobile phone, allegedly used to make the threats, has been seized.

Goel said Kopkoti disclosed during interrogation that he worked with a local municipality and had come into contact with Saraswati last year through an acquaintance.

“As per the directions of the accused, he allegedly contacted the complainant’s father from his own mobile phone and asked him to withdraw the complaint,” Goel said. Police “bound him down by law,” a process in which an individual is directed to maintain peace and good behaviour, failing which legal action follows.

Meanwhile, Saraswati -- the primary accused and former chairman of Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management-Research (SriSIIM) -- was taken back to the college on Monday as part of the investigation. DCP Goel said on Monday he was asked to point out specific locations, including his office and residential quarters, where evidence could be recovered.

Saraswati faces three cases this year, including molestation, cheating, and forgery, after present and former students accused him of harassment and intimidation. The complaints first surfaced in July, when students approached an Indian Air Force officer, who then alerted authorities. Later, the Sri Sri Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamthanam Dakshinamnya Sri Sharada Peetham, which owns SriSIIM, lodged two FIRs accusing Saraswati of sexually harassing students and causing multi-crore financial losses to the organisation.

In August, police registered another FIR after discovering Saraswati was illegally using nine vehicle number plates with UN markings. By then, however, Saraswati had left for London. On his return, he evaded police for nearly two months, moving between more than 13 hotels across Uttar Pradesh and other states.

He was finally arrested from a hotel in Agra on Sunday and remanded to five days’ police custody.