Agni trying to malign us with fake video: Sri Sri

Bangalore, Jul 2: Art of Living (AOL) chief Sri Sri Ravi Shankar claimed on Friday, Jul 2 that someone is blackmailing him with a 'fabricated video of a woman'.

Agni Sridhar, a don-turned journalist, earlier claimed that AOL had grabbed a land which belonged to Dalits and poor farmers.

"An extortionist cannot hide under the garb of someone helping the downtrodden. This exercise of false propagation and instigation will not work. Sridhar has threatened to malign us by using fabricated video of women and then moved on to a non-existent land issue," Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is quoted as saying in Mid-day.

He further added, "We will not budge or fall into the trap of miscreants. These tactics of threat and hiding behind fictitious stories will not work."

Prasanna Prabhu, the AOL spokesperson, said the blackmailer had started calling AOL faculty members and demanding a ransom of Rs 42 crore. "He said he would expose us by distributing videos of women from the ashram to the press."

"When we decided to file a complaint, he took a U-turn and began alleging that we are involved in land grabbing. I think he is using such diversion tactics to escape," Prasanna Prabhu told the tabloid.

Although Sri Sri Ravi Shankar urged his followers to be patient and not take law into their hands.

Sridhar however says he had not mentioned any video during his discussions with AOL.

OneIndia News