South Indian actress Ranjita today claimed she was not the woman in the sleazy video involving the controversial self-styled godman Nityananda Swami and alleged that this footage aired by a TV channel was 'fabricated.'
The controversy involving self-styled godman Swami Paramahamsa Nithyananda took a curious turn on Thursday with actress Ranjitha turning up at a Ramanagara court and lodging a private complaint against Lenin Karuppan, former driver of the godman, another former follower Arathi Rao and advocate Sridhar, accusing them of criminal intimidation and outraging the modesty of a woman.
The actor, who was allegedly shown having a romp with the godman in video footages that made it to the television media, had remained incognito after the tapes hit the headlines.
Accompanied by two advocates, Ranjitha turned up at the court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC). Her complaint under Sections 506 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code came up for hearing in the evening and was adjourned to January 29, 2011.
The actor’s statement will be recorded on that day.
Ranjitha submitted that she did not appear in the court all these days as she lacked confidence in the court and police. She alleged that Arathi Rao had connived with Lenin to create the tapes.
The actor contended that the person shown in the tapes was not her.
According to the complaint against Lenin Karuppan, whose secretly videographed romp between Nithyananda and Ranjitha was televised by news channels on March 2 this year, the “morphed video” was used to “blackmail and extort money” from her.
Police sources said Ranjitha’s complaint appeared to be a concerted effort to deny scientific evidence in the form of tests on the CD by the Hyderabad-based Forensics Science Laboratory. The FSL report had categorically concluded the CD was genuine.
Actor avoided police
Ranjitha’s complaint comes six months after she gave a statement to the Karnataka CID, which is investigating charges of rape and other sexual offences made against Nithyananda by Lenin.
After the scandal involving Nithyananda and Ranjitha went public, she avoided the police and officers had to travel to Chennai to record her statement in which too she had denied being the woman featured in the CD.
When contacted, Lenin reacted saying Ranjitha’s complaint was false. “Everything in that complaint is false and I will take appropriate legal steps in the days to come,” Lenin said.
On November 27, the CID filed a 430-page chargesheet before the Ramanagara chief judicial magistrate, naming Nithyananda, Nithya Bhaktananda, Nithya Sachidananda, Nithya Sachidananda and Maa Sachidananda alias Ragini.
Charges under IPC sections 376 (rape), 377 (unnatural sex), 417 (cheating) 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120 b (criminal conspiracy) had been levelled against Nithyananda, while Bhaktananda was booked under IPC Sections 212 (harbouring an offender) and 120 (B).
Meanwhile, Nithya Sathyananda and Ma Sachidananda, who were accused on four and five counts in the chargesheet filed against Nithyananda in the Ramanagara JMFC, were granted anticipatory bail.
Ranjita said, "when I am threatened and harassed and there are bigger powerful poeople, powerful political group, missionaries who are doing it, I cannot play a Galileo. Besides, I also needed time to get over the shock."
"I was very scared for my life and that of my family. However, if I and my family are assured of 100 per cent security by the concerned Chief Minister of that state (Tamil Nadu), I am ready to name the persons behind it", she said.
The actress, who has acted in more than 100 South Indian language films, also denied that she went into hiding after the video footage was telecast and added she was out of the country between March 3 and June 14 to attend a family wedding and also fearing for her safety. She charged that the TV channel aired the video footage without even bothering to verify the facts with her.
Nityananda, who has a sprawling ashram complex at Bidadi about 35 km from Bangalore, in Ramanagaram district, is on bail.
Hailing from Tamil Nadu, the swami was arrested from Himachal Pradesh April 21 after being on the run since March 3 when the video clip was telecast on several TV channels.