New Delhi: Followers of self-styled godman Nithyananda, a fugitive facing sexual abuse charges and kidnapping in India, who had built a fantasy ‘country’ for himself called the ‘United States of Kailasa’, have been arrested in an alleged land-grabbing case in Bolivia.As per a New York Times report, Bolivian officials said that as many as 20 people, linked to Kailasa, were arrested on the charges of “land trafficking” after they signed illegal deals with indigenous groups in Amazon to lease large parts for 1,000 years.The agreements were declared void.According to the report, members of ‘Kailasa’ have also been deported to their home countries – India, the United States, Sweden and China.The ‘Kailasa’ followers had arrived on tourist visas, the report added citing officials. They had also managed a photo with Bolivia’s president, Luis Arce, but there was no evidence that Nithyananda joined them there.Representatives from ‘Kailasa’ had once reached the United Nations in Geneva asking what the UN body could do ”at national and international levels” for the protection from persecution of the “supreme pontiff of Hinduism”.Nithayananda, accused of rape, kidnapping, torture and wrongful confinement of children in his ashram in Ahmedabad, fled India in 2019. He resurfaced a year later, claiming to have founded his nation – on an island purchased off the coast of Ecuador.Born Arunachalam Rajasekaran, reportedly in southern India, he started his first ashram in his 20s near Bengaluru but soon went on to build an empire across India, as well as among Hindu communities elsewhere.‘Kailasa’, the fictional country off Ecuador’s coast, is named after a sacred Hindu site and claims to be a movement founded by members of the Hindu Adi Shaivite minority community from Canada, United States and other countries.Recently, rumours of Nithyananda’s death had surfaced after his nephew, Sundereshwar, allegedly claimed that Nithyananda had passed away. However, this was dismissed by his representatives who asserted that Nithyananda is “alive, safe, and active.” “KAILASA unequivocally condemns this malicious smear campaign to vilify and defame the SPH,” a statement read.
