Who is ‘godman’ Chaitanyananda Saraswati accused of molesting 17 young women

He was born in Siliguri, before he shifted to Kolkata and Orissa. He arrived in Delhi in 1999. According to Ramakrishna Mission’s records, Chaitanyananda was born on February 25, 1970.

In an September 5 email sent to the Peetham, the Ramakrishna Mission claimed that Chaitanyananda joined them in 1997 and was expelled in 2002.

“He took mantra diksha from Swami Gahanananda ji, then a vice-president of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission. Subsequently, Parthasarathi Rudra was transferred to our branch centre Ramakrishna Advaita Ashrama, Kalady, district Ernakulam, Kerala… in April 2001. On receipt of complaints about his manipulating the accounts of the Kalady Ashrama and forging emails, he was sent away in March or April 2002,” the email added.

He was neither formally ordained a brahmachari nor a sannyasi by the Ramakrishna Math, it said.

BMW owned by Chaitanyananda seized by police. (Express)

The communication further said that on March 18, 2008, a woman, then student at SRIISM, mailed the Ramakrishna Mission, claiming that her teacher Swami Parthasarathi is a fraud. “He also claims to be a member of the Prime Minister’s Office, National Advisory Council. When the students of this college investigated, it was found that he is a fraud. He is also chairman of Ramakrishna Vivekananda International Foundation… Moreover, the Orissa government has filed a case against him,” the student wrote.

“We are trying to verify whether he was actually associated with Ramakrishna Math. His documents show he was active in institutions across East India before he joined us in 1999, along with some of his loyalists,” the source in the institute claimed.

Many of these loyalists, an official at the institution said, have either left or were booted out after allegations of financial irregularities surfaced against Chaitanyananda.

Chaitanyananda’s profile on some of the books he authored claim that he has MBA and PhD degrees from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, along with multiple honorary doctorates from universities across the world.

One of his books, Forget Classroom Learning, has a foreword purportedly written by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, where the later calls the book a “guiding manual for the applied world of management”.

This book, which Chaitanyananda allegedly authored under the name Dr Swami Parthasarathy, also has a review purportedly written by Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad regarding one of his previous works, calling him “one of the finest minds of contemporary India”.

Police suspect Chaitanyananda was using fake UN embassy number plates to assert dominance and influence over people, discouraging them from questioning his illegal activities.

Further, Chaitanyananda’s author profile claims that former US President Barack Obama used his book Transforming Personality as a “guide” when he ran for office.

A senior Delhi Police officer said that claims made in some of the books authored by Chaitanyananda, including him being a MBA and PHD degree holder, are being verified. The verification process was initiated by the police after the institution accused Chaitanyananda of financial misconduct, the officer added.

An FIR was registered against him last month for sexual harassment, intention to insult modesty of women, and criminal intimidation. At least 17 women – current and former students of the institute belonging to the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) – have alleged that Chaitanyananda made unwanted physical contact with them.

The Delhi Police, meanwhile, have seized a BMW vehicle owned by Chaitanyananda, which according to many students who have accused him of molestation, was frequently used by him, an officer said. One of the victims, according to the FIR against Chaitanyananda, claimed that he took her in the BMW to Rishikesh and sexually assaulted her inside the vehicle.

The officer added the vehicle was one of the many which Chaitanyananda acquired after allegedly misappropriating funds from the institute while serving as its chancellor.

Police said Chaitanyananda is changing his looks to avoid arrest. “He may now be moving around in disguise to avoid arrest… earlier leads had placed him briefly in Mumbai…,” the officer said.

The officer also claimed that Chaitanyananda could access the footage of CCTV cameras installed at the girls’ hostel on his cellphone. “He had footage of the washroom, where he allegedly placed a hidden camera… He also used his access to possibly destroy CCTV evidence… he tampered with the institute’s DVR system…”

“Victims have alleged that they were often called to his office during odd hours… surveillance footage from the lobby and washroom areas have also raised red flags,” the officer further said.