Vinay Bharadwaj was one of the primary conspirators against His Divine Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda in the 2010 religious persecution. However, his history with the organization began long before, in 2004, when he first became a devotee. His hunger for power drove him to seek leadership roles in the Sangha (spiritual community) and by 2008, he was a full time volunteer for the organization in Seattle, where he lived. In an attempt to raise his status in Sangha, he would frequently play politics to gain the favor of devotees. His oversized ego borderlined a God-complex but no one suspected his nefarious character because of his friendly personality. He would present himself as highly evolved spiritual being who was there to guide the devotees, expecting their reverence in return. Because of his sociable nature, many people in the community took a liking to him.
Behind the facade was a manipulative and spiteful man. Vinay Bharadwaj had started colluding with Douglas Mackellor in 2007 to frame Paramahamsa Nithyananda with false allegations. Both conspirators approached the wife of Douglas Mackellor to convince her to accuse Paramahamsa Nithyananda of having a forced illicit relationship with her. She refused.
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When that did not work, Bharadwaj reached out to Aarthi Rao, another conspirator in the plot against Paramahamsa Nithyananda, to coerce her to say the same. She also flatly denied him, initially.
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Simultaneously,Vinay Bharadwaj had been grooming a twelve year old child to be a pawn in his scheme. Sahiti Malladi was the daughter of the Seattle temple priest and darling of the Seattle Sangha. He maliciously pursued and manipulated her for his vindictive scheme. Building up her trust, he began taking her to his apartment and raping her.
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By August of 2009, temple administrators had grown suspicious of Vinay Bharadwaj. He was immediately dismissed for “contact with a minor child,” no one realizing the extent of his relationship with the twelve year old. He signed an agreement acknowledging his inappropriate behavior and apologizing for attempting to defame Paramahamsa Nithyananda. Already, Vinay Bharadwaj had been brainwashing the young girl against her beloved Guru, Paramahamsa Nithyananda, for several months, slandering Him with lies.
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In November of 2009, it had been one year since Bharadwaj had started raping the 12 year old daughter of the temple priest. At this time, he attempted to kidnap her by convincing her to runaway with him. Finally, he revealed his criminal plans to frame Paramahamsa Nithyananda. To her dismay, he tried to manipulate the innocent young girl to be a part of his plot by telling her parents that she had been having an illicit relationship with her Guru, rather than him. Her whole world came crashing down when she realized what he was doing and she finally came forward to her parents about her traumatic experience.
When the young girl didn’t run away with him, he began to panic. Already disgruntled about getting kicked out of the temple, he began to turn up the heat in his conspiracy against Paramahamsa Nithyananda. During a recent trip to India, he had already met with Lenin Karuppan, the main conspirator, and began planning along with Aarthi Rao a systematic attack of Paramahamsa Nithyananda. Now that he was under scrutiny for his crimes, he needed to act fast.
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After confessing to her parents what Vinay Bharadwaj did to her, Sahiti Malladi filed a complaint with the police against the child rapist.
On 2 March 2010, the persecution video, falsely depicting Paramahamsa Nithyananda with a Tamil actress, broke out in the media and a false case was filed against Him by Lenin Karuppan. In the case, Bharadwaj claimed to be a witness of the fake crimes. On 5 March 2010, Vinay Bharadwaj showed up at Sahiti Malladi’s house, threatening her and her family with a copy of a false complaint against Paramahamsa Nithyananda.
From July through October of 2010, Vinay Bharadwaj repeatedly attempted to destroy evidence of his acknowledgement of his inappropriate relationship – the agreement he had signed.
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Criminal charges were filed in the State of Washington against Bharadwaj for three felony counts of child molestation in the second degree.
Vinay Bharadwaj attempts to file a false complaint against Paramahamsa Nithyananda and His organization in the US. In the civil suit, he claims that he had discovered sexual abuse, fraud, and other illegal activities in the organization and as a result left for which he is now suing for damages.
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Later, Bharadwaj amended the complaint, falsely claiming he had been sexually abused since 2007 on multiple occasions by Paramahamsa Nithyananda
Vinay Bharadwaj approached the CID of Police of Karnataka state in December 2011 with false sexual abuse allegations against Paramahamsa Nithyananda. However, no charges were framed against Him as Bharadwaj failed to provide any proof of his allegations.
On 14 August 2012, the court found Vinay Bharadwaj guilty on 3 separate felony counts of child molestation and a fourth count of communicating with a child for immoral purposes. Child molestation is considered among the most serious crimes in the U.S. and Bharadwaj was immediately taken into custody without bail.
Bharadwaj was sentenced to 57 months in a maximum security prison in Seattle, Washington on September 21, 2012.
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In November of 2012, the false civil suit filed by Vinay Bharadwaj against Paramahamsa Nithyananda, alleging unnatural sex among other things, was dismissed in US court as baseless and with prejudice, terminating sanctions against Bharadwaj, including importantly the non-cooperation of Vinay Bharadwaj with the judicial process. He attempted to make the same allegations against Paramahamsa Nithyananda in December of 2011.
Later, the Superior Court of the State of California on April 4, 2013 granted the motion for Vinay Bharadwaj to pay the attorney fees as well to Swami Nithyananda and others.
In a short hearing for a Motion for Attorneys fees brought by defendants in the case of Vinay K. Bharadwaj v. Nithyananda Foundation, et al (Case No.CIVRS1013793), Honorable Judge Keith Davis granted the defendant’s’ motion in its entirety and described the motion as “well taken”. Judge Davis further commented that the nearly $500,000 in requested fees was “reasonable and appropriate” given the prolonged litigation which consisted of numerous motions, filings, hearings and rulings.
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In a reiteration of its earlier ruling as well as appeal on the ruling, the Hon’ble Court gave the final decision in Vinay K. Bharadwaj’s motion to reopen his already dismissed appeal on July 30, 2013. The court concluded, “…appellant has failed to show good cause for vacating the dismissal.”
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On, October 17, 2014, the Honorable Court of Appeal of the state of Washington ordered that Vinay Bharadwaj personally appear or be brought by the Washington prison for a court ordered examination under oath in relation to the false case filed by Mr. Vinay Bharadwaj against Paramahamsa Nithyananda and several U.S. non-profits that has been dismissed beyond appeal.
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Vinay Bharadwaj was deported from the US to his home country, India, after completing his prison sentence in Washington State.