Father of two women who went missing from Nithyananda's ashram

The father of two women who allegedly went missing from the local ashram of absconding godman Nithyananda moved the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday, seeking CBI probe into their disappearance.

Janardhana Sharma, father of Lopamudra Sharma (21) and Nandhitha Sharma (18), said the police investigation was being influenced by "affluent people".

Considering the "lacuna in the present investigations and limitation of the local police investigation agency," the case should be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the application said.

Sharma had filed habeas corpus petition in the high court in November 2019. A habeas corpus petition is filed for seeking a direction to the police or any authority to produce a person.

Sharma's latest plea said the police initially refused to register a First Information Report for abduction of his daughters and registered only a missing person complaint, that too after fifteen days.

The police were protecting "many affluent people", it alleged, seeking a direction to the Gujarat government to transfer the case to the central investigation agency.

Acting on Sharma's complaint, the police in November registered a case of kidnapping and wrongful confinement against Nithyananda and arrested his two disciples who were in-charge of his ashram in Ahmedabad.

The Police also sent a request to the CBI, the nodal body for Interpol matters in India, seeking a Blue Corner Notice against Nithyananda who had by then fled the country.

Last month the police told a court here that Interpol had issued a Blue Corner Notice, which is issued to locate or obtain information about a person in a criminal investigation.