By IANS,
Kochi : Self-professed spiritual guru and astrologer to the stars Swami Amritananthachaithanya alias Santosh Madhavan was Wednesday sentenced to 16 years imprisonment for raping and sexually exploiting two people, including a minor girl, by a Kerala court.
The Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court has also asked Madhavan, who was arrested last year, to pay Rs.220,000 to the two victims.
He had been astrologer to several stars and was also close to the top brass in the police department. The Bharatiya Janata Party had then alleged that Madhavan, who is in his 30s, was close to Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s son and had even fixed the time of his marriage.
Trouble first surfaced after a Dubai-based woman from Kerala complained that the godman had cheated her after taking money from her. The complaints of rape and sexual exploitation emerged after the media took up the issue and his photographs were splashed all over.
He was also booked after large number of pornographic films were found from his flat here. Besides, cases for possessing ‘ganja’ and a tiger skin are also registered against him.