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	Self-Styled Godman Held Central Chronicle January 5, 2010 http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=23652 A self-styled godman, who had been eluding the police dragnet on charges of sexually abusing women, was arrested by a special police team at Bangalore today. India -- Police sources said acting on an information from his driver that he was staying in his relative's house at Bangalore, the team went to the Garden city and arrested the Godman Eswara Srikumar. He had been on the run for the last few weeks eversince a woman, Hemalatha, lodged a complaint with the police that she was sexually abused by the godman when she visited him seeking a job. The Godman had also not responded to repeated summons issued by the police, denied the charges against him, before fleeing to Bangalore. He was being brought to the city for further interrogation. The sexual abuse charges against the Godman comes close on the heels of the infamous episode of a temple priest Devanathan's dalliance with married women in Kancheepuram. Acting on a complaint from Hemalatha, the Godman was booked for rape and criminal intimidation under the IPC. Eswar Srikumar runs the Shakti Vilasam Trust in West Mambalam, a predominantly brahmin dominated area in the city. In her complaint, Hemalatha, had alleged that Srikumar had been sexually exploiting her for the past two years. She said she had lodged several police complaints against him but no action had been taken. According to her, Srikumar started exploiting her when she approached him for a housekeeper's job at the Trust run by him. When she visited the House of the Godman, he had given coffee laced with sedatives and raped her, Hemalatha said in her complaint. She said Srikumar had intimidated her saying he had videographed her in the nude and that if she tried to expose him, her pictures would be posted on the internet, and started exploiting her. As the local police failed to take action, Hemalatha, who managed to escape from Srikumar, lodged a complaint with the Chennai City Police Commissioner, after which the inquest in the case gained momentum, leading to fleeing of the Godman, before police finally nailed him.
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