Controversial spiritual guru, Swami Himaval Maheswara Bhadrananda was arrested on Tuesday by Ernakulam North police for his Facebook posts that allegedly hurt religious sentiments.
Ernakulam North Circle Inspector T B Vijayan told The News Minute that Swami withdrew the Facebook posts which were derogatory against Muslims.
“Police charged a suo moto case against him. After his posts got controversial, he removed them and posted against few Hindu organisations also,” the Inspector said.
Swami who has been active on Facebook, had been arrested earlier in 2008 for opening fire at Aluva police station.
In 2008, Bhadrananda phoned a media reporter and threatened to kill himself saying that the media had tarnished his image by comparing him to Santhosh Madhavan, a self-declared godman who was arrested earlier. Bhadrananda also said the reason for his suicide threat was that he was asked to leave the house by his landlord. Swami also had a pistol with him.
Police arrived later and took him to Aluva circle office where his pistol went off two times, injuring himself and one reporter of Madhyamam daily. In the case that was filed, 33 people including media persons had given statements in the court.
Prior to this incident, he was booked by police for trespassing into a media house and threatening them for publishing news against him. He had also been charged for using a red beacon illegally in his car.