Self-proclaimed godman Nithyananda got no relief from the Supreme Court on Wednesday for his plea to be exempt from a potency test and will have to undergo the test in connection with a rape case from 2010.
The 36-year-old was arrested in 2010 in Himachal Pradesh on charges of rape and is being tried in Bangalore. Nithyananda had challenged the Karnataka High Court's order directing him to undergo the potency test, citing that "he was not capable of having sex", NDTV reported.
A bench in the apex court headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai questioned the controversial godman for his reluctance to undergo the test, The Press Trust of India reported.
The Karnataka High Court had on 1 August stayed the non-bailable arrest warrant against Nithyananda and four of his followers in connection with the rape case, and had directed the godman to be present for the medical test on 6 August before the investigating officer.
The high court had upheld the 2012 order of the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Ramanagaram, who had allowed the plea of the Criminal Investigation Department to subject Nithyananda to medical test to find out whether or not he was capable of having sexual intercourse, and also to collect his blood and voice samples, according to PTI.
Nithyananda had gone missing from his ashram in Bangalore in 2010 after news channels showed footages of the 'godman' in a compromising position with an actress.
Following the scandal, several of his women disciples claimed that they had been asked to have sex with Nithyananda, while a US-based woman had alleged that she had been sexually abused by him for five years.
He was nabbed from Himachal Pradesh two months later.
