The Karnataka High Court on Friday granted conditional bail to controversial godman Nityananda, accused of rape, criminal intimidation and cheating.
Nityananda, who has been lodged in the Ramanagaram jail, is likely to walk a free man once the bail order is produced before the jail authorities and the Ramanagaram magistrate.
Nityananda, one of his close disciples, Bhaktananda, and two others, were arrested by the officials of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Karnataka, from a house at Mamlig village near Solan in Himachal Pradesh.
Senior counsel and former Advocate-General B.V. Acharya, who appeared on behalf of Nityananda, trashed the CID probe against his client. He said the CID had so far not been able to place any credible and irrefutable evidence against Nityananda.
He said his client had been kept in jail on flimsy charges.
He said Nityananda was wrongly booked under several charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
What is the offence he has committed and where is the proof? he asked. He urged the court to grant bail to Nityananda. On its part, the CID maintained that it was Nityananda's former driver Lenin who had given a complaint.
It said it had not been able to interrogate the Tamil actor who was seen in the video footage with Nityananda.
Justice Subash B. Adi, in his order, allowed the bail petition of Nityananda with stringent conditions.
