Swami Nithyananda files Rs 3 cr defamation case

Bangalore, Sep 24: Swami Nithyananda has filed a 3 crore defamation suit against movie 'Sathyananda' which he alleges is aimed at defaming him.

After successfully stopping the release of the movie temporarily from a civil court, Nithyananda demanded that Rs 3,00,00,456 be compensated to him for defaming him.

"The numbers in it (3, 4, 5 & 6) add up to 18, which in turn denotes the numerical 9 (1+8), which is auspicious. Also 3, 4, 5 & 6 represent ascendancy," revealed a source to the Bangalore Mirror on the amount that was settled after consulting a numerologist..

Compensation has also been sought from Madan Patel, director-producer of the movie and Ravi Chetan, lead actor of the movie.

In his argument Nithyananda said that Patel despite of giving a memo to the court said that he was not making a movie based on the life of the god-man but the promotional ventures of the movie gave the idea that the movie was being made on his life.

“Reputation is not something you could quantify. The amount of compensation sought is nothing more than a particular figure considered auspicious," said the source.

Ashwatha Narayana, additional City Civil and Sessions judge after issuing a temporary injunction, VIII observed that Nithyanada said that “at the age of 33 itself, he has achieved the fame of being the most watched religious preacher on the Internet." The case however, has not been disposed by the court.

Reports also suggest that social networking site-Facebook helped the god-man in getting a temporary injunction on the release and the promotion of the movie-Sathyananda.

The producer of movie despite claiming that the movie was not based on Nithyananda's life, however, on Facebook posted request asking people if ever they were “cheated" of “money, property or chastity" by the Swami. After innumerable response from people over the issue, Patel thanked them indeed making it clear that the movie was based on the life of Nithyananda.

Despite of the injunction, Patel went forth and said that he would be releasing the movie.

“Nithyananda has asked for Rs 3,00,00,456. Will he allow me to release the film if I pay him the money? Is he worth just that much?" said Patel.

Meanwhile, Nithyananda's supporters are planning to file a contempt case against the movie maker.

OneIndia News