- The former student said one of his friends was targeted by the baba when they studied at his institute in 2016
- He said students who were targeted were asked not to speak to their families
- Swami Chaitanyananda, who was accused of sexual harassment by at least 17 women, was arrested on Sunday
He may be facing a raft of cases only now, but the Delhi baba arrested for sexual harassment had been harassing his students even nine years ago, a former learner at his institute has said. The students' phones would be taken away, they would be kept in separate rooms with extra facilities and the baba would buy them expensive phones but control who they could contact.
Speaking to NDTV on Thursday, the former student of Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati's Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management in Delhi's Vasant Kunj, said one of his friends was targeted by the self-styled godman when they studied there in 2016. Even people living in the area, he claimed, knew that Chaitanyananda would harass students, but parents, who were unaware, got their children admitted to the institute thinking a baba running it would mean they would get the right education in an environment where the right values were also important.
The 62-year-old, whose original name is Parthasarathy and who hails from Odisha, was accused of sexual harassment by at least 17 women in August and was arrested on Sunday after being on the run for months. Three women who worked at the institute - two wardens and the associate dean - and allegedly helped convince women to give in to Chaitanyananda's demands and deleted evidence, have also been arrested.
The former student said he joined the institute in 2016 and had enrolled in a two-year course. "We knew there was a trustee who was a 'sanyasi' (ascetic) and when parents hear that, they think their children will get a good education, good values and good guidance. That the 'sanyasi' would be calm. But he (Chaitanyananda) was anything but," he said.
"Whether it was with the students or staff, his behaviour was not good. He used to get aggressive at random, say anything he felt like saying. People getting sacked or being deprived of their salary was fairly common," the former student said.
He said Chaitanyananda treated women students differently and gave them "preference" by doing things like inviting them to events and making them the leader of the class.
"I heard about this kind of behaviour from people around the institute as well, who had been living there for a long time," he recalled.
2016 Case
The former student said one of his friends was targeted by Chaitananyananda and was invited to lunches and dinners at five-star hotels.
"Initially, things seemed normal. But then they said she would be sent abroad and to Mathura for an internship. Sending just one person? I have never heard of something like that. She suspected something amiss and was told she would have to leave in three days. She then decided to leave the institute and I helped her do so," he said.
The student also filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Chaitanyananda.
The former student recounted that students whom Chaitanyananda took a liking to would get a separate room with extra facilities.
"Their phones would be taken away and they would be given expensive phones like those by Blackberry and Apple, so that he would have access to them and chats and messages could be deleted. The students were told not to talk to their family and relatives," he said.
Women Aides
The student said one of the women who has been arrested was at the institute when he studied there as well and she and her sister had a different kind of authority. "They would motivate the girls and take them to Chaitanyananda," he said.
Chats with students that have come to light point to Chaitanyananda being involved in a sex trafficking ring, telling a student that a "Dubai Sheikh" needs a sex partner and asking if she had any "nice friend".
When the former student was asked if he knew anything about this, he said Chaitanyananda definitely had a connection with Dubai and would keep talking about it.
"Dubai and UAE were always mentioned. I don't know about a racket, but people from Dubai used to come to the institute. The things that we know now, he must have been doing," he said.
