About two months ago, another case involving a godman accused of sexual misdemeanour and financial crime came to light, adding to the growing list of such individuals who have gained infamy while holding important positions in socio-religious spheres. A self-styled godman, Chaitanyanand Saraswati, aged 62, was arrested in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, on September 28, 2025 in connection with serious allegations of sexual harassment and financial fraud. The arrest was made by the Delhi Police, and he was remanded for five days of police custody.
Chaitanyanand faced accusations of sexually harassing at least 17 female students from the Sri Sharada Institute of Indian Management in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, where he formerly served as director. Students alleged that he used abusive language, sent profane messages, and engaged in inappropriate physical contact. The charges also included criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery. He is suspected of committing financial fraud worth over Rs 40 crore, and authorities have frozen assets worth Rs 8 crore.
According to the police, Chaitanyanand lured students-many from the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) — with promises of foreign trips. He reportedly pressured some victims to comply with his demands by threatening to ruin their academic careers. He allegedly confiscated their phones and installed hidden cameras in the women’s hostel to monitor their movements. Chaitanyanand had been evading the police for nearly two months after complaints were filed in early August 2025. He fled Delhi and was later tracked to Agra, where he was arrested at a hotel. Upon his arrest, police recovered fake visiting cards in which he posed as a diplomat for the United Nations and BRICS. He also allegedly used forged degrees and multiple names for passports and bank accounts.
The religious body Sri Sharada Peetham, with which he was formerly associated, has severed all ties with him, citing his illegal, inappropriate, and harmful actions. There is a regular emergence of fake and criminally inclined godmen in our country. Many of them have been running hermitages or ashrams with a huge following of devotees who once worshipped them as divine beings before they were criminally charged and incarcerated. Why do people throng the abodes of fake godmen? And why do gullible students fall prey to morally debased teachers inclined towards sexual exploitation?
The issue is deep and complex. People in this country are given to hero worship. Hero worship blinds devotees into eulogising and submitting before human figures perceived as demigods or total benefactors. They surrender their bodies and souls in expectation of bounties or bliss.
This mindset is a product of illogical, unscientific, and superstitious beliefs that have wreaked havoc on society for a long time. It is time we woke up to this bitter truth and reset our ideological bearings.
Even more shocking is that certain persons donning saffron clothes and active in academic work within religious institutions exhibit morally debased behaviour. Is there something wrong in the functioning of our academic institutions? Or are there serious ideological gaps in our community that breed such charlatans?
We need to look into this matter seriously to find real answers. But one thing is unequivocally clear-our society needs urgent education and grooming to stem the rot of superstition and blind devotion that plagues it. Hero worship is deeply ingrained in our society, and fraudsters and fake godmen exploit it ruthlessly, playing with the emotions of their gullible followers.
In this context, male teachers indulging in predatory sexual behaviour towards female students are not uncommon. Many more cases occur than are ever reported or exposed. Students are often threatened or blackmailed into surrender and silence. Society instantly stigmatises victims, while perpetrators deny wrongdoing and exploit a weak legal system-often relying on networks of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians who shield the guilty.
Our social values are not safe unless we make our law enforcement system effective. Principles of morality will remain mere principles unless there is a sound and foolproof mechanism to nail criminals and award them severe punishment. Crime thrives where law enforcement is weak. Strengthening it is the foremost need of the hour.
Our ancient political strategist Chanakya clearly stated in the Arthashastra and Chanakya Neeti that crime thrives in a state devoid of strong laws with punitive teeth. The present government has taken commendable steps to rescind outdated laws and enact new ones. But the Indian Police Act, still in force, is a colonial-era legacy and needs to be recast sooner rather than later. The Indian Penal Code has been revised but requires more stringent provisions to deter and punish such criminals. Perhaps the most important requirement is building a legal system in which trials and related proceedings are time-bound and courts deliver judgments within fixed periods. Justice delayed, derailed, or denied amounts to a travesty of democracy and good governance.
The author is a management consultant based in New Delhi; views are personal