Nithyananda's passport canceled, says India amid Hyderabad encounters

India on Friday said that the passport of fugitive self-styled godman Nithyananda was cancelled as the nation was gripped to news of Hyderabad encounters.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Nithyananda's passport was canceled and a fresh application of the same was denied, the Indian government said.
• India has informed its missions in other countries about the criminal cases against the self-styled godman in India.
• India's MEA, however, said that no extradition requests have been received from agencies.

India on Friday said that the passport of fugitive self-styled godman Nithyananda was canceled and a fresh application of the same was denied as he did not get the requisite clearance from police and several criminal cases have been lodged against him.

"In this case, when we got information about cases pending against him, we canceled his passport. His passport was issued way back in October 2008 which had a validity of 10 years. It was due to expire in September 2018 but it was canceled much before that. He again applied after the cancellation, but it was put on hold because of adverse remarks from the police," MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told reporters at a weekly briefing here.

He said that the ministry has sensitized the missions and posts about the self-styled godman wanted in several criminal cases in India. "We have asked them to sensitize the local governments that in case he transits or he is in that country, they should let us know," Kumar said.

Asked on the extradition process, the MEA spokesperson said that no such requests have been received from agencies. "We can only act based on the inputs we receive from different agencies. We have not received such requests. We can take action once that comes to us," Kumar said adding that it is difficult to "speculate" about his exact location.

Last month, the Gujarat Police said that the self-styled godman fled the country. Police in Ahmedabad had arrested two woman administrators of the ashram, allegedly owned by Nithyananda, and freed two boys who were held captive there.

Two of his disciples, Pranpriya and Priyatattva, were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by one Janardhan Sharma who alleged that his daughter was held captive in Nithyananda's ashram. The police took the two women to Nithyananda's ashram in Hathiajan for an investigation and seized laptops, mobile phones among other things.