Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru
Bengaluru, Sep 20: The city crime branch (CCB) police nabbed Abhinava Halashree Swamiji, the third accused in the Chaitra Kundapura case. Ever since the case came to light, the police had been searching for the missing Swamiji.
The police received a tip-off that the Swamiji was in Odisha. This tip led them to a private hotel in Cuttack, Odisha. When a team of CCB police went to the hotel in Cuttack, they realised that the Swamiji was traveling by train. The police boarded the same train. He was arrested in the train at around 9.30 pm on September 18.
![](https://daijiworld.ap-south-1.linodeobjects.com/Linode/images3/swamiji_200923_1.jpg)
It was not so easy to locate Swamiji as he was in a disguise. He was wearing t-shirt and pants instead of his usual saffron clothing. Moreover, he used to change his place every hour. Within an hour of going to a town, he would contact some people through his mobile phone and leave for another town. He would travel by bus or train.
A couple of days ago, the police had detained Swamiji's driver and interrogated him. The police came to know that the Swamiji had gone towards Hyderabad. But more importantly, they realised that the Swamiji was using multiple mobile phones.
In fact, the Swamiji had bought four mobile phones and some SIM cards before fleeing his ashram in Vijayanagara district. He had kept two mobile phones and two SIM cards with them. He gave two more mobile phones and SIM cards to his driver Ningaraju and said that he will contact him.
The Swamiji used to go to one town and call someone, then switch off the mobile phone, and when he went to the next town, he would turn on the mobile phone and call some people and switch it off again. It is learnt that he knew that he would be caught as he was using a mobile phone.
The police received information about the new SIM card that was with the Swamiji and monitored the location. On September 17, the police came to know that the Swamiji was in Telangana. With the tracking continuing, the police confirmed that he was in Odisha on September 18. They immediately informed the Odisha police. He was taken into custody around 9.30 pm that day.
The Swamiji is in the CCB police’s custody in Cuttack where they are completing the legal processes to obtain a transit warrant. After all that is completed, the Swamiji will be taken to Bengaluru by train, it is said.