"Had to Make Videos at Night": 15-year-old Girl Rescued from Nithyananda's Ashram Opens Up!

A 15-year-old girl from Bengaluru alleged that she underwent mental torture in an ashram allegedly belonging to Nithyananda. She was rescued from the ashram by her parents with the help of the child welfare committee.

"I joined Gurukul in 2013 in May. Earlier we used to do fun activities but since 2017 there has been corruption. We had to do promotional activities for Swamiji and raise donations not in thousands but in lakhs. Donations were starting from Rs. 3 lakh up to 8 crore. Either we had to get donations or land in acres," the girl told ANI.

"In the middle of the night, they used to wake us up and make a video for Swamiji. We had to wear heavy jewellery and heavy makeup. My elder sister is not able to get out of there. I was a witness that all the videos done by my sister were directly instructed by Swamiji. They also asked her to talk about our father and mother in a bad way. They even asked me to do so but I refused."

She also alleged that she was locked up in a room for two months in the name of some spiritual process and that the people in the ashram used abusive language.

The girl's father had moved the Gujarat High Court on the matter. "The case is moving in the right direction. Arrests have been made of two persons in the case. I have complained about getting my girl back, but they are engaged in other nefarious activities as well," he was quoted as saying by NDTV.