Thiruvananthapuram: The case of a 23-year-old woman allegedly gashing the genitals of a 54-year-old swami in Kerala’s capital city earlier this month has taken a new turn with the woman’s mother and brother giving a different version to the police.
The woman had earlier stated that the swami had been abusing her from the time she was a teenaged schoolgirl and that she chopped his genital after being fed up of his abuse.
The seer, identified as Sreehari alias Hari Swami and also known as Gangeshananda Theerthapada Swami, was rushed to the Medical College Hospital here, where he has been undergoing treatment under police watch.
On Monday, the woman’s mother and brother emerged with a different version, informing police that the alleged attacker had an affair with a youth and that she had attacked the swami because he had advised her against the relationship with the youth.
They alleged that it was the woman’s fiancé who had mutilated the man’s private parts, adding that the family members had initially been coerced into giving a statement against the swami that he had swindled Rs 4 million (Dh227,616) from them.
However, their statement goes counter to an earlier admission by the swami that he had severed his genital himself. The case that attracted wide attention, particularly after the woman who allegedly suffered abuse by the swami, was applauded by several people including state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
On social media, too, the incident sparked an intense debate with many approving her act and others suggesting that she should have taken legal recourse against the alleged abuser rather than taking the law into her hands.
