Nithyananda allegedly smuggled gold from US

Tuesday April 27, 2010, Bangalore
CID sleuths have revealed that Swami Nithyananda would routinely smuggle 24 carat gold weighing several kilograms from the US.

According to the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Swami Nithyananda visited the US quite often. During his visits, he used to carry objects that looked like gold.

"He usually got things made in form of rosaries and sandals that he used to wear while returning to India," reads a DRI letter that was sent to the Bangalore airport authorities, a copy of which is in possession of MiD DAY.

The letter also mentions that Swami Nithyananda misused his image of a spiritual guru to smuggle gold.

According to the officials, the swami believed that he'd be never caught, as the custom officials never bothered to check him when he used to go on spiritual trips.

DRI officials had also issued a look out circular to all the airports soon after sex swami went into hiding.

The DRI sleuths suspect that Nityananda could have used the same technique for smuggling precious stones as well.

Besides, the officials suspect that Ma Nithyananda Gopika, sex swami's personal assistant, helped him in the smuggling racket.