Delhi fugitive ‘monk’ Saraswati denied anticipatory bail

The court, calling the offence grave and the allegations as serious, noted that as per the investigating officer, the accused was not available at his given address and his mobile phone was switched off

NEW DELHI

The Delhi Police has lodged a total of five cases against Saraswati, one pertaining to molesting multiple students studying at his institute’s PGDM programme, two molestation cases dating to 2009 and 2016, and others related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. (File)

A Delhi court on Friday denied interim protection to self-proclaimed monk and former chairman of a Delhi management college, Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, who is accused of molesting over 17 female students, besides cases of cheating and criminal conspiracy.

The order denying his anticipatory bail was passed by Additional Sessions Judge Hardeep Kaur of Patiala House Courts.

The court said, “Investigation of the present case is at a nascent stage and IO (investigating officer) requires custodial interrogation of applicant/accused to establish the entire chain of fraud, cheating, conspiracy and misappropriation of funds”.

The court, calling the offence grave and the allegations as serious, noted that as per the investigating officer, the accused was not available at his given address and his mobile phone was switched off.

The Delhi Police has lodged a total of five cases against Saraswati, one pertaining to molesting multiple students studying at his institute’s PGDM programme, two molestation cases dating to 2009 and 2016, and others related to cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy on the complaint of his former employer and trust, Sri Sringeri Sharada Peetham, which runs the institute.

Saraswati’s counsel, advocate Ajay Burman, moved the anticipatory bail plea on September 4, claiming that he was being targeted by the trust by creating a fictitious case against him and that he had been operating the trust and its management institute as per law, from abroad.

The prosecution, led by additional public prosecutor Irfan Ahmad, submitted that the accused, in collusion with his other associates, forged a deed in 2008 and also changed the name of the institute without due approval from the competent authority, AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education).

The prosecutor said that Saraswati fraudulently sublet the property to a third party and misappropriated funds to the tune of ₹40 crore.

The prosecution further alleged that Saraswati had created multiple identities on government documents, such as holding two passports in two different names, and his PAN card carries a different father’s name. He also held two bank accounts on two different identities and possessed a vehicle with a forged consulate registration plate.

The trust, through its counsel, advocate Kumar Vaibhav, submitted that Saraswati fraudulently created a different trust for the management institute to siphon off funds of around ₹40 lakh for subletting land.