New Delhi: South American nation Ecuador on Friday confirmed that controversial “godman” Nithyananda visited Ecuador recently but denied that he was given asylum or that any land had been sold to him. India, meanwhile, on Friday said it had cancelled his passport over a year ago, and it had “sensitised” Indian missions to keep foreign governments informed about Nityananda’s anteced-ents.
The rape-accused self-styled godman fled the country without a passport and he may have fled through Nepal. Sources in Ecuador said Nityananda had recently visited the country “as a tourist”.
In an official statement from New Delhi, Equador said: “The embassy of Ecuador categorically denies ... that self styled Guru Nithyananda was given asylum by Ecuador or has been helped by the government of Ecuador in purchasing any land or island in South America near or far from Ecuador. Moreover, Ecuador denied the request for international personal protection (refuge) made by Nithyananda before Ecuador and later on, Nithy-ananda left Ecuador presumably on his way to Haiti. All the information ... published ... in India, is based on the information which allegedly has been sourced from , a website which is supposedly maintained by Nithyananda or by his people.”
On reports that the “godman” had through his website declared a separate “nation” on an island purchased by his followers, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said: “Setting up a website is different from creating a nation. He (Nithyananda) has opened a website.”
“When we got information about the cases pending against him, what we did was that we cancelled his passport first,” Kumar said. “Then he applied for a fresh passport which was denied. There was an adverse police report. We have sensitised all our missions that he is wanted in several cases. We have asked our missions to sensitise the local government that in case he happens to transit through that country, they should let us know.”
