Nithyananda ashram buildings illegal

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There’s more trouble in store for the self-proclaimed godman Nithyananda Swamy who has run away from his ashram and is being pursued by the police. Several buildings on his 42-acre estate at Kallugopanahalli, off Bengaluru-Mysore highway, may face the axe because they are illegal.

Karnataka Chief Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda has ordered that the ashram be taken over, but several buildings on it are unauthorised. The Nithyananda Dhyanapeeta located at survey number 21/7 of Kallugopanahalli falls under the jurisdiction and the planning authority of the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA).

According to highly placed sources, section 10 of the BMRDA Act makes it mandatory for the ashram authorities to obtain the building plan from the planning authority, but this was never done.

The ashram has a multi-storied apartment complex with at least 50 units, nearly 20 cottages, about 20 independent houses and another multi-storied apartment which is under construction - all of them unauthorised.

“The government has all the power to initiate action against such unauthorised construction and raze down the structures. The BMRDA can issue notice to the authorities seeking a reply within a week. The notice will be pasted on the door of the ashram if there are no claimants for the notice. If the ashram
authorities fail to respond or reply within the stipulated time, the BMRDA can bulldoze the structure and recover the cost from the owner of the property,” said a source.

The authority might also investigate Nithyananda's owning agriculture land and if he complies with the Karnataka Land Reforms Act. According to section 109 of this Act, a non agriculturist must obtain exemption for owning agricultural land.

Manhunt begins for Nithyananda

The Ramanagar police launched a massive search for Nithyananda, the self-styled godman, on Monday evening. He is wanted on charges of assault, threat to life and abetment.

“Two cases, of assault and threat to life and abetment, have been registered against Nithyananda and several others. We are searching the ashram premises for the accused number one, Nithyananda,” said Ramanagar SP Anupam Agarwal.

There has been a 28-hour delay in taking the arrest forward, but Mr Agarwal says that was because of certain legal hurdles. Now they will not leave any stone unturned to look for the accused, he said. “We will be searching the premises room by room.”

An entire team of police officers has been roped in. Additional Deputy Commissioner Archana, who started off the search operations, took along a videographer. “We will be recording the entire operation, as later, it will be useful for the investigations,” Agarwal said.

It’s two days since CM D.V. Sadananda Gowda announced that the Bidadi ashram would be shut down, but no order has been passed. C.P. Yogeshwar, minister for forests, said that they have not been able to get the required approval from the magistrate as there are some legal hurdles.

“We have sent the report to our legal cell and after going through the report, the next course of action will be planned,” he said.

According to sources, following the order from the CM, the DC had rushed to the magistrate to get his approval for sealing the Bidadi ashram. The magistrate, however, was unimpressed by the argument of the State government that the Nithyananda issue was causing law and order disturbance and hence to run the affairs of the State it was necessary that the ashram be shut down.

“If the government can’t keep law and order in check, how can it expect to run the affairs of the State properly?” the magistrate asked. Following this rebuttal from the magistrate, the DC is said to have rushed to Chief Secretary S.V. Ranganath for further orders.

A team of officials from the revenue department visited the ashram and carried out a survey of the whole campus. A pro-Kannada outfit has threatened a major protest across the State if the government doesn't take stern action.

“The government seems to be delaying the legal action to give Nithyananda e nough time to escape. From tommorow we will start a hunger strike outside this ashram,” said president of KNNS-Bengaluru unit, K. Shivaraju.