The police team probing the alleged illegal detention of a woman by a yoga centre near Kandanad has intensified the probe to trace Manoj Guruji, who ran the centre, and his associates.
Officials sources said that they were yet to get statements on Guruji’s role in the case. “There are no statements about him thrashing the inmates though he obviously had concurrence with the accused as he was the one running the institution,” they said.
The investigation team has already collected witness accounts corroborating the claim by the complainant. “The woman had gone to the institution along with her family members, and her mother even stayed there for a couple of days. Some inmates have reportedly seen the woman getting thrashed by three women staffers of the centre in the presence of Sreejesh, an employee who is already in police custody,” said a senior police officer.
Besides teaching yoga, the centre also gave counselling for deaddiction from narcotics, and other psychological problems.
Meanwhile, the police have contacted many of the inmates there though none have come up with a similar complaint.
Apart from the panchayat issuing closure notice to the establishment, the owners of the building have also evicted them. A few of the inmates remain at the institution, and arrangement is being made to send them back to their families, the police said.
In an affidavit filed in the Kerala High Court, the 28-year-old Hindu woman had alleged that she was detained for 22 days at the yoga centre near Thripunithura, and was “physically and mentally harassed” to abandon her marriage to a Christian man.
