The underground cell where the seven-year-old girl was confined by Appayya Swami (top left) in a Belgaum village.
The other children who were rescued are Radhika (7), Prashant (10), Sachin (8), Purushottam (8) and Kiran (8). Locals said that several cases have been registered against Ayyappaswami since 2003.
Sadashiv alias Appayyaswami tried to escape from his Chandramma Devi Math in Zanjarwadi village in Athani taluka but the police arrested him and his associate Gurupadgouda Patil.
Tahsildar Aparna Pawate, Debashis Rationalist General secretary of Rationalists’ and Humanists’ forum of India, Deputy Superintendent of Police S R Patil and officials from the Women and Child Welfare Development Department raided the mutt and rescued the girl from the cave on Wednesday morning. They also found food,water,lamp,kerosene and items used for rituals inside the 11ftx11ft cell where Nijalingamma Channappa Doddamani was kept.
The rescued girl,who the accused claimed had been adopted by him,was admitted in the Athani government hospital.The girl is stable,but traumatized,said hospital authorities.
Pushpalata Sunnadakal,chief medical officer of Athani hospital,dismissed claims of Appayya Swami that the girl had not taken food and liquid for the past 20 days and that she had been kept alive through spiritual power.
Aigali deputy commissioner N Jayaram and Superintendent of Police Dr Chandragupta visited the math and assured locals of strict action against Appayyaswami.
Jayaram said that the math had been illegally constructed, and would be demolished soon.
Incidentally, the seven-year-old girl is the same child whom the women and child development department had rescued in June 2013 from Appayyaswami for performing superstitious rituals over her.
However, locals had complained that Appayyaswami had been sexually harassing the girl. At the time, he sparked an outrage when, claiming to be sexually weak and flaunted his private parts in front of the media and the public.
The district commissioner warned him and let him go since the girl or her parents had not lodged an official complaint.
Five months ago, Appayyaswami succeeded in convincing the girl’s parents to handover the girl to him for meditation. He told his devotees that he had burnt the girl and that she would return as a “goddess” on February 27 i.e. on Maha Shivaratri day.
He had also claimed that he had done this for the welfare of the world. But the villagers called his bluff and the girl was found in a 9ft x 9ft dungeon behind the mutt. She was covered with ashes.
The girl’s parents, who fled to evade arrest, said that they had offered their daughter to Ayyappaswami when she was just three-months-old for the welfare of the world.
Debashis Rationalist. General Secretary RHFI
Ayyappaswami sought donations for fake ritual.
Godman Claimed Girl Would Be Burnt Alive And Brought Back To Life On Shivaratri
The event had been publicized as yog samadhi by the ashram authorities 20 days ago.Claiming it was being done for the welfare of humankind,the godman conducted a ritual claiming that the girl would be burnt alive and brought back to life on Shivaratri.Pamphlets were distributed and donations sought among villagers.
According to plan,ashram authorities placed the girl under logs of wood and burnt the pyre.As hundreds of devotees witnessed the event amid chants,the girl was whisked away and her body smeared with black paint and ash to show that she had been charred to death.Later,she was confined in the cellar and they had planned to produce her alive on Shivaratri day.
Appayya Swami claimed he had adopted the girl and that her parents are from Soorpali in Jamkhandi taluk of Bagalkot district.However,sources in the women and child welfare department said the adoption was illegal as no mandatory adoption procedures were followed.
Tahsildar Pavate said she was surprised that the villagers of Zunjarwad had not informed the authorities about this earlier.At least,local gram panchayat members or women groups should have informed us, she said.
District commissioner N Jayaram said the government will take up the responsibility of the rescued girl,including tracing her family and her schooling.Besides,the construction of the mutt is illegal and authorities will look into it, he said.
A case has been registered against the accused Appayya Swami and his aides under IPC sections 336,342,344,345 (B) and 355.Further investigation is on,said S R Patil,deputy SP,Chikkodi.
Godman had brush with law earlier too
Only nine months ago, he created quite a stir when he dropped his clothes in front of media cameras, saying he was free of sexual desires, when some reporters sought his reaction over rape charges levelled against him.
In 2010, Appayya had been booked for attempt to suicide after he claimed to have sat in an underground cell without food and air for 15 days, surviving only on his spiritual powers. Two atrocity cases had registered against him but he was acquitted in both as they were proven false due to lack of evidence.
SSLC failed Sadashiv became a self-proclaimed sanyasi some 19 years ago. After building a house on four acres of his property on the village outskirts, he turned it into an ashram and named it Chandragiri mutt. It’s still a mystery which seer anointed him a swami.
Appayya would adopt children of poor parents and use them for his tantric rituals. He gave them a new name after anointing them as his disciples. Local police who raided the mutt on Wednesday found six children living on the premises, and none of them going to school. Most of the children belonged to the dalit community.
Locals said he was much reviled and feared in the village, though there were some followers. Shivshankar Hungund, a school teacher, said the villagers were afraid of him because he would take revenge against those who spoke against him, by poisoning their cattle or performing black magic.
Godman used children for hard labour in his ashram
This time, also another case against Appayya Swami is filed for using children in construction work and other hard labour in his ashram. They were intimidated into doing the work and never sent to school, said the children.
The District Child Protection Unit (DCPU) of the women and child welfare department, which looks into the care and rehabilitation of destitute and orphaned children, had rescued five children from the ashram on Wednesday. The children, all aged below eight years, disclosed that they were engaged in construction work of the ashram in the past few months. They were engaged in carrying sand and mixing it with cement as well as cleaning the mutt premises.
In fact, the underground cell where the seven-year-old had been confined, was built by these children. “The Swami would tell us that the ashram is the pedestal of Lord Shiva,” said Sachin Hagri, a rescued boy at Balkalyan Kendra. Sachin, who hails from Kaji-Bilagi in Bagalkot district, was brought to the ashram two years ago.
Speaking to News India, the children further said their parents would come to meet them once in two-three months. “Whenever we asked to return to our parents, the swami would threaten us and force us to do more work. Sometimes we were punished for the same,” they said.
The children have been temporarily shifted to Vivekanand Seva Pratisthan’s Gangamma Chikkunjimatt Balkalyan Kendra in Belgaum. Speaking to News India, Arun Nirgatti, district head of DCPU, said the unit is holding a meeting with Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) headed by district principal and sessions judge and Child Welfare Committee (CWC) on Friday. “Rehabilitation of the children and registering separate complaints against the accused for pushing children into these harsh jobs will be discussed in the meeting,” he said.
Among the rescued children are Purushottam Jodaratti of Kaji-Bilagi, brothers Kiran and Prashant Chidanand Phutani of Kakamari of Athani taluk. Nijalingamma, the cellar girl, and her twin sister Radhika Channappa Daddimani are the others who were rescued. Nijalingamma, whose original name is Chandrika, has been shifted to district hospital in Belgaum and her sister Radhika is along with her.
Courtesy: News India
RATIONALIST DEBASHIS 