The passport of fugitive godman Nithyananda has been cancelled, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. The statement came hours after the Embassy of Ecuador declared that its government had rejected a request for refuge from Nithyananda, forcing him to flee the country.
“When we got information about the cases pending against him, we cancelled his passport first. Then he applied for a fresh passport which was denied and put on hold, because he could not get the requisite clearance from the police.... We have sensitised all our missions and posts that this man is wanted in several cases in India and we have asked the missions to sensitise the local governments,” MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
Sources said it is not clear what passport Nithyananda is currently travelling on as his Indian passport was cancelled. It is also not clear how he managed to flee the country despite charges of abuse and harassment levelled against him by some of his followers.
In his online statements issued through his website kailaasa.org, the godman has claimed that he has set up a country for the followers of the Hindu faith on an island belonging to Ecuador. However, the Mr. Kumar dismissed the claims, observing that he has just set up the website.
Hours before the MEA’s statement, the Embassy of Ecuador in a press release said Nithyananda was not on Ecuadorian soil and urged media outlets to avoid linking the Latin American country with him.
”Ecuador denied the request for international personal protection (refuge) made by Mr. Nithyananda before Ecuador and later on, Mr Nithyananda left Ecuador presumably on his way to Haiti,” declared the statement.
The Ecuadorian statement has proved that Nithyananda has been travelling and has some kind of a travel document that is enabling him to move across international borders. It is understood that the Indian authorities are trying to find out which country’s passport is Nithyananda using while travelling.
