New Twist in Nityanand Sex Scandal-Christian Missionaries played fowl play,alleges Actress

Ranjitha said on Swami Nityananda Tape, Missionaries are doing it.

PTI

Bangalore, Jan 1 (PTI) South Indian actress Ranjita today claimed she was not the woman in the sleazy video involving the controversial self-styled godman Nityananda Swami and alleged that this footage aired by a TV channel was ''fabricated.''

Breaking her silence in her first public appearance after the alleged sex scandal broke out in March this year, Ranjitha told a press conference that she was ready to reveal the names of those behind the video if she was given security cover.
Ranjitha said she was threatened and harassed by "some powerful persons and missionaries" not to say anything to police.
"I was very scared for my life and that of my family. However, if I and my family are assured of 100 per cent security by the concerned Chief Minister of that state (Tamil Nadu), I am ready to name the persons behind it", she said.

She had filed a criminal complaint at the Ramanagara police station yesterday against Lenin Kuruppan, former driver of Nityananda, who had exposed the alleged sex scandal by releasing a secretly recorded video.

Commenting on the video clip which purportedly showed her in a compromising position with Nityananda at his ashram in Bidadi in the outskirts of the city, she said "it is fabricated. I am not the person in it. In fact at that time I was in a room that I was sharing with another female devotee in the Dhyanapeetham ashram."
Referring to Karnataka CID police, quoting Forensic Science Lab (FSL) reports (about the footage) as "genuine", she said "the FSL report may say whatever. Only I can tell the truth whether I was there or not".

The actress, who has acted in more than 100 South Indian language films, also denied that she went into hiding after the video footage was telecast and added she was out of the country between March 3 and June 14 to attend a family wedding and also fearing for her safety.

She charged that the TV channel aired the video footage without even bothering to verify the facts with her.
Calling herself a "devotee" of Nityananda, she said "I am still a devotee.I do not know if I am putting things in the right perspective. He is an enlightened master who does not need somebody to make him happy".

Nityananda landed in a controversy in March after a television channel aired a purported video footage showing him in a compromising position with a Tamil Actress. He was later arrested from Solan district in Himachal Pradesh on April 21 and granted conditional bail on June 11 after spending 53 days in judicial custody. He is facing charges of rape and criminal intimidation.
Asked about her long silence over the scandal, Ranjita said, "when I am threatened and harassed and there are bigger powerful poeople, powerful political group, missionaries who are doing it, I cannot play a Galileo. Besides, I also needed time to get over the shock." PTI BH MSR BN GSN