New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) A Delhi court on Saturday fixed October 8 for delivering a final decision on a plea filed by arrested ‘Swami’ Chaitanyananda Saraswati, accused of molesting 17 women students, seeking medicines, Sanatani food and monk dress in jail.

Judicial Magistrate Pallavi Tyagi took on record the Delhi Police’s response to the accused’s applications and put off the hearing till October 8.

On that day, the court is expected to deliver a final order on the accused’s plea seeking special facilities during judicial custody.

On Friday, the court sent the accused, also known as Partha Sarathy, to 14-day judicial custody.

While sending him to Tihar Jail, the court directed the authorities to provisionally provide him medicines and Sanatani food till the time a final decision is taken on his petition seeking special privileges in prison.

The list of special facilities sought by the self-styled monk also includes availability of books and reading glasses.

‘Swami’ Chaitanyananda Saraswati, director of Sri Sharda Institute of Indian Management in Delhi’s upscale Vasant Kunj area, is facing a criminal case for allegedly targeting female students enrolled in post-graduate management diploma courses under the Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) scholarship category.

The officials reported that the ‘Swami’ fled on August 4, shortly after the institute received a complaint from the Indian Air Force (IAF) headquarters accusing him of molesting female students.

On September 28, police arrested him at an Agra hotel. The police took him to the institute, where he was questioned for a few hours, and then brought him back.

According to investigators, Chaitanyananda Saraswati would call female students to his room late at night and threaten to fail them or reduce their grades if they resisted his sexual advances.

The police took Chaitanyananda Saraswati to the “torture room” on the ground floor of the institution, where he would call female students for private meetings. So far, police have recorded the statements of three wardens of the institute.

According to the complainant, they used to help Chaitanyananda Saraswati bring the girls to his room. Recently, Delhi Police detained two women associates and interrogated them.

–IANS

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