Swami
Amruthachaithanya looked every bit a saint, with magnetic eyes and graceful
gestures. Film stars, police officers and politicos attended on him.
On May 13, the police booked him on charges of rape, fraud and illegal
possession of drugs, tiger skin and sandalwood. Apparently, the swami
was a mean man inside, whose real name was Santhosh Madhavan.
The fall
came a week after media revelations that Interpol in the United Arab
Emirates had issued a red corner notice about Santhosh Madhavan in a
case filed by a businesswoman, Serafin Edwin. She alleged that he had
duped her of 4 lakh dirhams (about Rs 50 lakh). Interestingly, Interpol
in Delhi, too, had issued a red corner notice about a Santhosh Madhavan
wanted in an arms smuggling case related to the Bombay blasts. But the
arms-dealer Santhosh turned out to be someone else! The one operating
from Kochi, though, was indeed the man in the cheating case. Serafin
had his photos, but no evidence of any money transaction.
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Shedding
the saint’s garb: Santhosh (sporting a beard) with police officers after his
arrest |
As news
spread, police found itself under pressure to arrest Santhosh, who presented
himself before the CBI and the police, and appeared on TV channels claiming
innocence. Once they got in touch with Serafin in the UAE and got a
complaint lodged in Kerala, the state police raided Santhosh’s flat
in Kochi, seized a piece of sandalwood, some ganja, a tiger skin, porn
CDs and a police uniform, and took him into custody.
The police
said Santhosh had confessed to taking money from Serafin, but not as
much as the Malayali businesswoman had claimed. A case of fraud had
been registered, the narcotics department had taken up the drugs case,
and the forest department has been asked to handle the sandalwood and
tiger skin cases. The police uniform was of a frequent visitor of his,
a circle inspector who died two years ago.
Then came
the revelation. The police said that Santhosh had raped nine minor girls,
most of whom belonged to Santhitheeram, a charity home he ran. One of
the girls had complained the day he was arrested that he had raped her
several times in his flat in Kochi, and had made pornographic CDs of
her. Santhosh had Rs 80 lakh in deposits and a few acres of land in
his name, but the police said he was a frontman for many prominent personalities
and did real estate business worth many crores.
TAMIL NADU
- Breathtaking feat:
Sometimes putting out even one candle can be
difficult. What would you do if you had to
blow out 151 candles in one go? Sankaranarayan, 21 of Ramanathapuram,
did just that. The feat has
earned him a place in the Guinness World
Records. But how did
he manage it? Breathing exercises and yoga, he says
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Among
his frequent visitors were film stars, politicians and police officers.
A deputy superintendent of police, Sam Christi Daniel, played a key
role in Santhosh’s gala wedding last year. An art director decorated
the venue, and many celebrities blessed the newlyweds. Many of them
were enlisted by an event management team, but many others were believers
in Santhosh’s astrological skills. A school dropout, Santhosh learned
astrology and earned his living as a priest. As his celebrity clientele
grew, so did his riches. According to Serafin, Santhosh was precise
about her past in his astrological analysis and that made her trust
him with the money, but he vanished with it.
Santhosh
could be booked for faking documents, too. The passport he used on his
initial journeys to the UAE has the name Santhosh Madhavan. After Interpol
issued the look-out notice, he obtained a different passport under the
name Swami Amruthachaithanya, which did not mention the existence of
the first passport. Apparently, he got yet another passport, with the
help of a police officer in Kochi.
Santhosh,
if found guilty, could get a life term. But more eagerly awaited are
the details of his power links and benami transactions. Quite a few reputations
could tumble with the unmasking of the swami. |