A man has complained to the Trichy police that a few disciples of controversial godman Nithyananda are trying to usurp his Rs 1 crore-worth property on the periphery of Trichy. In his written complaint to the deputy superintendent of police, the complainant, R Selvamani, from Navalur Kuttapattu near Trichy said he and his family members had jointly given power of attorney to one Danushkodi to sell one acre of his land. Selvamani's family possessed 3.36 acres at a stretch.
Selvamani claimed the piece of land was instead transferred to godman Nithyananda through a settlement deed without their knowledge. According to Selvamani, the fact that the land had been clandestinely transferred to the godman by the man to whom he entrusted power of attorney (POA) to sell the land, came to light only when his son Jageeshwaran preferred a litigation to claim his portion of the family-owned land.
The matter became further complicated when the man to whom the POA had been entrusted passed away recently. Jageeshwaran also mentioned in his petition to the court that the settlement deed executed in favor of Nithyananda was illegal and unauthorized. But the police said the disciples of Nithyananda had the original sale deed papers and it was a decent transfer of land. It was not clear what was at stake, but the documents spoke for themselves, and they appeared genuine.
While the civil petition against the settlement deed was filed in court, Selvamani got wind of the fact that a few people claiming to be disciples of Nithyananda had made a complaint against him at the Ramji Nagar police station and he was interrogated on that score. The police got an undertaking from him that he would wait for the court verdict. Meanwhile, on August 25, Selvamani claimed in his petition that a few disciples of Nithyananda tried to take physical possession of the controversial land, and they were seen clearing the fence.
"When I and my uncle tried to stop them from going ahead with their plan, we were threatened with harsh language. One of them came forward to assault us," he said in his complaint. Police, who did not want to be named, said it was a complicated case of villainy on both sides. It left many unanswered questions such as why should Selvamani be kept in the dark by his own man, Danushkodi, to whom he chose to give POA, and whether Selvamani's action was a collective one.
The DSP, rural, forwarded the complaint to the inspector of Ramji Nagar police station for possible action. Meanwhile, construction is going on at the site and a signboard claims that "the land rightfully belongs to Swami Nithyananda and no one has the right to either buy or sell the land. If anyone dare do so, he will be punished appropriately."