Five days after the Supreme Court directed the self-styled godman Swami Nithyananda to undergo a potency test in a 2010 rape case, Nithyananda underwent the test here on Monday at the Institute of Nephro-Urology on the campus of the State-run Victoria Hospital.
Although the potency test was completed within five hours and ended around 1 p.m., Nithyananda came out of the hospital in a wheelchair around 4.50 p.m., and was rushed into the ambulance and taken to the Forensic Science Laboratory, Madiwala. Police personnel and his associates surrounded him to prevent the media from taking photographs.
There was high drama at the hospital with huge deployment of police personnel and scores of presspersons waiting outside the Institute of Nephro-Urology for nearly nine hours. T. Durganna, medical superintendent of Victoria Hospital, said Nithyananda co-operated with the doctors and all tests were conducted on him. “This is a confidential test; we will not be able to disclose the details of the tests,” he said.
A team of six doctors conducted the tests and the samples have been sent to the laboratory. “The results of the test are expected between 24 and 48 hours and the report will be submitted to the CID in a closed envelope,” a hospital source said. The source also added that he had undergone an ultrasound test and blood investigation. Earlier in the day, Nithyananda arrived at the hospital in a car along with his disciples and associates at 7.50 a.m., much before the police personnel arrived. The Supreme Court, last Wednesday, had expressed “extreme displeasure” at the investigation, and had even slammed the accused and the Karnataka police for the “atrocious” delay in the case.
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials investigating the case also subjected Nithyananda to a voice sample test at the Forensic Science Laboratory, Madiwala. A senior CID official said the voice samples were collected to match them with alleged telephone conversations and in a video. The report is awaited.
Later in the evening, a crew of a local TV channel created a ruckus by a ramming one of the vehicles belonging to the ashram in Bidadi, the police said.
