Self-styled godman Shiva Shankar Baba, 72, was arrested by the Crime Branch-CID police in New Delhi on Wednesday. The arrest followed complaints of sexual abuse made against him by a few alumni of a residential school he founded on the city’s outskirts.
The Mamallapuram all-women police station last week registered three cases against him under the IPC, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act. The State Commission for Protection of Child Rights inspected the school immediately after the complaints were made.
The cases were transferred to the CB-CID by the Director General of Police on June 13. After the CB-CID took over the cases, a team, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Gunavarman, conducted a probe and launched a search for Shiva Shankar Baba, who was said to be on a spiritual tour of north India. The Baba, who was reportedly admitted to a private hospital in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, disappeared after the CB-CID team reached there to secure him.
Sources said the police traced his whereabouts after calls were made to him. He was arrested at Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi, and produced before a court that granted a transit warrant for him to be taken to Chennai. Interrogation would continue after he is brought to the city, the police said.
The Child Welfare Committee, Kancheepuram/Chengalpattu, has asked the government to cancel the recognition granted to the school.
