CHENNAI: Members of Nithyananda Dhyanapeetam, the ashram run by tainted godman Nithyananda, handed over a complaint to the Commissioner of Police in the city on Wednesday, alleging they had been threatened, assaulted and money had been extorted from them by persons related to the media houses that brought out the video allegedly showing their leader being intimate with actress Ranjitha.The complaint was filed by Nithyathmaprabhananda, the manager of Nithyananda’s ashram. It identified Lenin and Aarthi Rao as the persons who produced the obscene video and also accused the duo of blackmailing, threatening and extorting money from representatives of the ashram.The complaint notes that ashram representatives had been held hostage and beaten up till they coughed up close to Rs 40 lakh. It also names an advocate Sridhar, an individual named Kumar, Nakkeeran Gopal and Kamaraj of the Nakkeeran group of publications, Sun Network COO Hansraj Saxena and his aide Iyappan as among others who threatened and ordered assaults on representatives of the ashram.“We didn’t give the complaint earlier because the situation was not conducive. We have been threatened, harassed and assaulted. We request the government to take stringent action against these people,” said Nithyananda, reflecting the words of actress Ranjitha from a day earlier.His complaint also included a recording of a phone conversation with Sridhar threatening the ashram representatives to pay up or have the obscene video published and broadcast.The complaint carries a detailed account of the negotiation process between ashram representatives, initially with Sridhar and subsequently with Nakkeeran Gopal, Kamaraj and Iyappan.When questioned as to why he chose to pay up, Nithyananda said, “When a crorepati like Aircel Sivasankaran can be armtwisted into paying up, what option did a sanyasi like me have.” Nithyananda also said that the group which had extorted him had an eye on his ashram’s property, resulting in the smear campaign.
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