The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed two bail petitions filed by self-styled godman C.N. Siva Shankaran alias Siva Shankar Baba, 73, of Chennai in two of the three cases booked against him under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act of 2012.
Justice M. Dhandapani rejected both petitions after not finding any ground to enlarge the petitioner on bail. The judge was also informed that the Crime Branch-Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) had already filed a chargesheet in the cases.
In his petition, Siva Shankaran had claimed that he was not involved in the management of a private residential school, at Kelambakkam near Chennai, whose former students had lodged complaints against him after many years of the alleged incidents.
The petitioner claimed that he had only delivered guest lectures on spirituality and Tamil language in the school on being invited by its management. He said one of the complainants was a 21-year-old Bharatnatyam dancer who had accused him of having forcibly hugged and kissed her when she was a student in 2018 and also when she had visited the school for a dance performance after completing schooling. Accusing her of having made false allegations on “imaginary grounds”, he claimed the complaint had been lodged to gain “cheap popularity.”
The petitioner also sought bail on health grounds stating that he was a heart patient who was suffering from various other ailments too.
According to the accused, he was born at Alankayam in then North Arcot district in 1949 and joined a goods carrier transport company in Chennai in 1968 and eventually became its manager. Thereafter, he started his own firm named Ganga Cauvery Roadlines at Broadway in Chennai, constructed a bungalow in Anna Nagar and led a prosperous life.
He claimed to have had a “spiritual awakening” in 1984, and thereafter went on a pilgrimage to mountains, forests and religious places. “On his enlightened return, the petitioner put up an Ayyappan temple at his house,” the affidavit said and told the court that he quit his family on January 16, 1997 and his wife, son and daughter were now residing in the United States with no connection whatsoever with him.
Initially, he started his “spiritual activities” in a small room at Mannady in Chennai before shifting to the terrace of his devotee’s house in Besant Nagar and then he moved to Neelankarai where Samratchana Trust, founded by him, had purchased 12 grounds of land.
