Charged New religious movements Guru-led movement or ashram Bidadi, Ramanagara district, Karnataka, India · 2018

India: godman Nithyananda formally charged with raping a disciple inside his ashram; now a fugitive

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Pending matter

Allegations are attributed to the cited proceeding. No finding of guilt has been made.

Latest cited disposition: A female disciple's 2010 complaint (Indian Penal Code ss. 376, 377, 420, 114, 201, 120-B) alleged Nithyananda sexually abused her over about five years inside the ashram. After his petitions to quash the case were dismissed by the Karnataka High Court (16 May 2018) and the Supreme Court of India (1 June 2018), the trial court formally framed criminal charges on 4 June 2018 and an in-camera trial began, with witness testimony still being recorded as of the most recent reporting. In November 2019 Gujarat police separately filed a wrongful-confinement/kidnapping complaint after a follower alleged the ashram was holding his children against their will; days later, on 20 November 2019, Nithyananda left India. A non-bailable warrant was issued by the Ramanagara trial court in August 2022 after his continued non-appearance, and Interpol issued a Blue Notice in January 2020 to help locate him. No conviction has been recorded in any of these proceedings; he remains a fugitive as of the most recent reporting.
Cited sources last retrieved: 2026-07-20

Disposition and response

Material that narrows or disputes the record

Appellate history

2018-05-16

Both courts dismissed Nithyananda's petitions to quash the rape prosecution, clearing the way for the trial court to frame charges.

Record class

Core record

Evidence status

Charged

Authority role

Swami Nithyananda (Nithyananda Paramashivam), founder and head of the Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam ashram, claiming guru status over resident and visiting disciples

Organization

Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam

Archive classification

This is the archive's application of its published inclusion test. The cited record appears below.

The complainant was a disciple resident in his ashram under his claimed guru authority for years; the criminal complaint and the charges the trial court formally framed allege that authority was the means of sustained sexual access to her.

Guru or spiritual-teacher authority
Sacred sex, purity, or sexual-energy claim
Institutional obedience or isolation

Evidence structure

Proceedings

2018-06-04 · charges formally framed after his challenges were dismissed by the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court of India; in-camera trial underway; NO VERDICT

Third Additional District and Sessions Court, Ramanagara, Karnataka. A female disciple's 2010 complaint (Indian Penal Code ss. 376, 377, 420, 114, 201, 120-B) alleged Nithyananda sexually abused her over about five years inside the ashram. After his petitions to quash the case were dismissed by the Karnataka High Court (16 May 2018) and the Supreme Court of India (1 June 2018), the trial court formally framed criminal charges on 4 June 2018 and an in-camera trial began, with witness testimony still being recorded as of the most recent reporting. In November 2019 Gujarat police separately filed a wrongful-confinement/kidnapping complaint after a follower alleged the ashram was holding his children against their will; days later, on 20 November 2019, Nithyananda left India. A non-bailable warrant was issued by the Ramanagara trial court in August 2022 after his continued non-appearance, and Interpol issued a Blue Notice in January 2020 to help locate him. No conviction has been recorded in any of these proceedings; he remains a fugitive as of the most recent reporting.

Documented coercion mechanisms

his position as the ashram's founding guru, exercised over a woman who lived within the ashram as his disciple for roughly five years, during which the charged abuse allegedly occurred
control over the ashram as a closed residential community, later the basis of a separate 2019 complaint that his ashram wrongfully confined two children of a follower

Cited record

Sources

national newspaper court reporting court proceeding report The News Minute: 'Rape case against Nithyananda: Trial finally begins after 8 years of legal hurdles'.: Confirms the 2010 complaint, the 2018 exhaustion of appeals, and the start of the in-camera trial.
national newspaper court reporting court order report The News Minute: 'Karnataka trial court frames charges against Nithyananda in rape case'.: Confirms the 4 June 2018 framing of charges by the Ramanagara trial court.
national newspaper court reporting law enforcement report National Herald: 'Interpol issues Blue Notice to locate Nithyananda, wanted in rape, abduction case'.: Confirms the Interpol Blue Notice and his fugitive status.
national newspaper court reporting investigation report DNA India: report on the November 2019 Gujarat kidnapping complaint and his flight from India.: Confirms the separate children's-confinement complaint and the timing of his departure from India.
Wikipedia (2026) 'Nithyananda' [summarizing the Ramanagara district court proceedings]. Available at: en.wikipedia.org (Accessed: 15 July 2026).: Nithyananda, once among India's most prominent self-styled godmen: 'On 19 February 2018, the Third Additional District and Sessions Court in Ramanagara ordered the framing of charges against Nithyananda and five others' over a disciple's rape accusations; 'In August 2022, the... Court issued a non-bailable warrant against Nithyananda following multiple orders to appear'; he 'fled India and has remained in hiding since 2019', declaring a self-styled micronation while a fugitive. Note: charged and wanted — never tried, never convicted. This entry documents flight from process, not guilt.

Source provenance

Source access and integrity log

This log records source retrieval and file integrity. It does not mean that an automated process independently confirmed every statement in the source.

Source and tier basis: https://www.thenewsminute.com/karnataka/rape-case-against-nithyananda-trial-finally-begins-after-8-years-legal-hurdles-86233 Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: court-proceeding-report. SHA-256 a10a664ebd8e96e968c10b15e726c9374567585f9c14b7a0a59fa8eb0b47f901
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.thenewsminute.com/karnataka/karnataka-trial-court-frames-charges-against-nithyananda-rape-case-82595 Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: court-order-report. SHA-256 0700c2e663a117d20b0413be3ad2f1062d149a81136c549168366005591e82ad
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/interpol-issues-blue-notice-to-locate-nithyananda-wanted-in-rape-abduction-case-may-be-hiding-in-caribbean Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: law-enforcement-report. SHA-256 3cfdbd178f15f36fab65d641fd83edafb2691ae10e7888c52f036317b644f54e
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-booked-in-kidnapping-case-by-gujarat-police-swami-nithyananda-flees-country-ashram-raided-2802730 Corpus classification: national-newspaper-court-reporting; evidentiary role: investigation-report. SHA-256 d84109faa8502c44943392932902e5ce476a950e1dd5fc685148c3022d6921a1
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger
Source and tier basis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nithyananda Legacy citation preserved without a normalized source tier or evidentiary-role code. SHA-256 4e8b1c300bbe514d28ddc4f6b768d10de4a21fe3e52ef3b7951c4729c589432a
Retrieval: 2026-07-20 · Preserved; Bound by Fear automated source-preservation ledger

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