CID's petition against self-styled godman Nityananda dismissed

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Monday dismissed the petition filed by police seeking cancellation of bail of self-styled godman Nithyananda and his associate, facing criminal charges including rape, for allegedly influencing witnesses.

Justice Keshav Narayan dismissed the petition on the grounds there were no strong reasons to cancel the bail.

The Crime Investigation Department ( CID) has filed the petition seeking cancellation of the conditional bail granted to Nithyananda and Nithya Bhaktananda in June last year.

On June 14, the judge had sought reasons for cancellation of bail as it happened in rare cases and needed special reasons, to which CID submitted that the accused were influencing witnesses and tampering with evidence.

Nityananda and Nithya Bhaktananda were arrested on April 21 2010 in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh, after they went underground in the wake of telecast of video footage purportedly showing Nithyananda in a compromising position with an actress. A case is pending against them in a court in Ramanagara near here over criminal charges, including rape.