Delhi Baba Facing Sexual Harassment Charges Allegedly Authored 28 Books

A 62-year-old self-proclaimed godman, accused of sexual harassment by multiple students at a private management institute in New Delhi, has allegedly authored 28 books with forewords and reviews from notable personalities, officials confirmed Wednesday.

Swami Chaitanyananda Saraswati, formerly known as Swami Parthasarathy, is currently evading authorities as 17 female students have given statements to a magistrate detailing allegations against him. Delhi Police have formed teams to apprehend him, according to a senior police official.

The accused served as a 'sanchalak' (often referring to himself as the 'chairman of the institute') at the Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management in Vasant Kunj, which is operated by the Sharada Peetham, Sringeri, one of the four seats of Shankaracharyas. Police reports indicate his published works include titles such as 'Global Trade in the New Millennium', 'Transforming Personality', 'Human Values in Modern Management', 'Corporate Governance: Principles, Mechanisms & Practice', and 'Forget Classroom Learning', many available on e-commerce platforms.

On one e-commerce site, 'Forget Classroom Learning' features a foreword attributed to Apple Inc. Co-Founder Steve Jobs, who purportedly described it as "...an unprecedented preparatory and guiding manual for the applied world of management." The review also references Former United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

The e-commerce platform describes Saraswati as an "eminent professor, noted author, orator, educationist, spiritual philosopher and philanthropist, and an eminent personality of management academia in India and abroad."

His biography claims he is the "Chancellor cum Chairman, Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management (SIIM) University and Chairman cum Managing Trustee of Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management-Research Foundation, New Delhi and Ramakrishna-Vivekanand International Foundation (RKVIF), New Delhi."

The profile further states he is "a member of the Joint Commission of BRICS Countries and the Chairman of Asia-Pacific Development Initiative, a joint economic forum of 25 Asia-Pacific countries." This is not Saraswati's first encounter with such allegations.

According to police sources, a case of fraud and molestation was registered against him at the Defence Colony Police Station in 2009, with another molestation complaint filed at the Vasant Kunj Police Station in 2016.

In the current case, a complaint was lodged on August 4 at the Vasant Kunj North Police Station. During the investigation, authorities recorded statements from 32 female students enrolled in the Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) program who had received EWS scholarships. Seventeen of these students alleged that Saraswati used abusive language, sent obscene messages, and made unwanted physical advances.

Police also indicated that three women working as faculty members and administrators at the institute allegedly assisted the accused by pressuring students to comply with his demands.