Ranjitha sues Kanchi seer for Nithyananda jibe

CHENNAI: Tamil actor Ranjitha, a disciple of self-styled godman Nithyananda, lodged a criminal defamation complaint against Kanchi Sankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi of Kanchi on Monday for his reported statements against her .
Ranjitha, who could not complete the defamation proceedings formalities on Friday because of her late arrival in court,waswellon time on Monday to present her complaint to the additional chief metropolitan magistrate V P Ravindran, who was holding additional charge of the chief metropolitan magistrate court .
The judge has posted the matter to May 16, when Ranjitha will have to come again to get her sworn statement recorded by the court. Once that is over,summons will be issued to the persons named by Ranjitha in her complaint.
In her complaint, Ranjitha said she was a strong believer and that she used to attend several religious conferences and discourses. She said she became a disciple of Nithyananda after listening to his discourses in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Ranjitha contended that Jayendra Saraswathi, in a statement to the media, had cast aspersions on her relationship with Nithyananda and said she was always seen with the godman. Denying the allegations, Ranjitha said they were made intentionally by the seer to defame her. Shesaidshe had suffered immense agony and stress due to the “malicious statement”.
Last week, the Kanchi acharya had spoken out against Nithyananda’s appointment as the 293 rd pontiff of the ancient Madurai Adheenam, a Saivite mutt which is believed be more than 1,500 years old.