How Vizag seer used to sexually exploit minor orphans

Visakhapatnam: More skeletons are tumbling out of a 60-year-old seer’s closet after he repeatedly raped and tortured a 15-year-old orphan in his Ashram

A total of 12 children — four girls and eight boys—were put up in the Gnanananda Ashram in Visakhapatnam. The Ashram houses an orphanage and an old-age home. The Ashram was set up in 1955. It is headed by the seer Poornananda Saraswathi.

On June 20, the seer was arrested by Visakhapatnam's Disha Police for repeatedly raping a girl in the Ashram.

A case has been registered under a case against the preacher under Sections 323, 342, 376 (2) f, 376 (3) of IPC, and Section 6 of the POCSO Act against the seer. He was sent on remand till July 5 to Visakhapatnam Central Jail.

Speaking to News Meter, ACP (Disha Police Station) Ch Vivekananda said, "Other girls in the Ashram are studying are younger than the victim. When we spoke to them, one girl stated that she faced a similar situation with the seer molesting her."

The seer has another branch in Bhogapuram which houses two children. While some children are orphans, a few are from low-income groups, whose parents admitted them for food, and education.

All the children are provided education at the Ashram school, and they write examinations every year through their Bhogapuram branch.

Abused during nights

With around 5-6 workers living in the Ashram, the seer used to call the victim and another girl to his room during the night. While asking them to knead his legs, he used to sexually abuse them.

After her parents died in 2016, the victim was putting up at Gandepalli Sadhu Matham in Rajahmundry. However, she was later shifted to Poornananda's Ashram.

"The victim is older than others and she was targeted by the Swamiji for his sexual desires. He used to sexually abuse the victim at night, which perhaps no one knows. After this incident, we shifted all the children to a government home," said the ACP.

Victim escaped, boarded train

The victim who suffered sexual abuse and torture for about two years managed to escape from the Ashram.

"I was in the Ashram for two years. He used to call me to his room at night and sexually abuse me. One day, when the ashram doors were open for the Prasadam vehicle, I asked for some money from an elderly person (who she calls Akka) in the Ashram and escaped. I boarded an auto-rickshaw and asked him to take me to the railway station," said the victim.

She then boarded a train, and narrated the scene to a woman passenger, seeking help. The woman passenger got her in touch with the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), She revealed the ordeal she went through at the Ashram.

In the complaint, she stated that the seer used to chain her in his bedroom.

The girl was escorted to a Disha police station in Vijayawada, where she complained, and went for medical tests.

To avoid suspicion, the seer himself had lodged a missing complaint on June 15 at MVP Colony police station.

The victim was discharged from the government hospital in Vijayawada and was shifted to Prajwala home in Vijayawada city on Wednesday. The girl will undergo medical tests in the next few days. Later she will be shifted to a government home for girls in Visakhapatnam.

"We will get complete details once she is back to Vizag, and would further proceed in this case," said ACP talking to News Meter.

Repeated offender

This is not the first time that the seer was caught abusing children in his Ashram. He was arrested for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl inmate in 2012. He was later released on bail. The 2012 case is currently under trial in court.

The accused claimed that the allegations and cases against him were a conspiracy to grab the valuable land of the Ashram.

According to the police, about 9.5 acres of land of the Ashram is also under dispute. Police are investigating the case from multiple angles to establish facts.

After the incident, seer Srinivasa Nanda Saraswathi alleged that some miscreants had been trying to grab the land of the Ashram in Venkojipalem for a long time, which may be worth crores.

"Earlier, the miscreants tried to shift all the cows and had even given death warnings to Poornananda to vacate the Ashram. Police should conduct a fair investigation into the case," said Srinivasa Nanda Saraswathi.

Ashram has no permission to run shelter home

A team from the Child Welfare Committee visited the Gnanananda Ashram and shifted the children to the government home. The team said that the Ashram has no permission to run an orphanage. They also said Ashram was in bad shape and people were living in unhygienic conditions.

The children were not given adequate food and water for bathing at the Ashram.