Controversial 'godman' taken into custody

Tue, May 13 03:37 PM

Kerala's controversial 'godman' Swami Amritachaitanya, against whom Interpol had put out a look out notice in a cheating case, was arrested in Kochi on Tuesday.

Director General of Prosecutions (DGP) P G Thampy informed the Kerala High Court, where Amritachaitanya alias Santosh Madhavan has filed an anticipatory bail petition, that he was arrested this morning.

When the petition was taken up by the court, the DGP said that following the arrest, the Swami's bail application would become infructous.

However, Amritachaitanya's counsel informed the court that the arrest was made while the anticipatory bail application was pending and hence it was illegal.

In his anticipatory bail petition Amritachaitanya had stated that he was 'totally innocent' and the allegations against him were baseless.

Vacation judge, V K Mohanan, then said he would hear the petition at 3 p.m.

There are three cases against Amritachaitanya and he was arrested in a case relating to defrauding an Indian woman, Serafin Edwin, in UAE of Rs 45 lakh.

Meanwhile, Serafin Edwin, the NRI woman on whose complaint the arrest was made, told television channels from UAE that she was happy that the fraudster had been brought to book.

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