Self-styled godman Swami Nithyananda, booked in a criminal case related to his ashram fled the country on Thursday. The Gujarat police has taken two of his disciples in remand.
An FIR was registered on Wednesday against the controversial guru on the charges of kidnapping and wrongful confinement of children to make them collect donations from followers to run his ashram here, Yogini Sarvagyapeetham.
Nithyananda has fled the country after a rape case was registered against him in Karnataka, and it will be a waste of time searching for him here, the police said.
Also read: Godman Swami Nithyananda has fled the country: Gujarat police
Soon after the news, photos of the godman with Prime Minister Narendra Modi started doing the rounds on social media, gaining increasing popularity.
The two had met in 2007 in Bengaluru during Nithyananda Jayanti celebrations. Modi, at that time, was the Chief Minister of Gujarat.
In 2009, Modi, then the Chief Minister of Gujarat shared the stage with Swami Nithyananda in Vadodara. The godman who had donated Rs. 2.50 lakh to the state government-run Kanya Kelavni (Girl Child) Scheme was also invited to give a discourse.
His contribution was appected by Chief Minister Modi who even commented that while the state had been visited by many, this was the first time a godman had actually used such a platform and goven the state something. Modi also paid obeisance to him.
Twitter has now unearthed photos from these meetings and it is going viral. Take a look:
