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A man hurled a slipper at controversial self-styled godman Nityananda Swami, arrested for his alleged involved in a sex scandal, as he was being taken in a police van after being produced before a court in Ramanagara, 40 km from Bangalore.
The incident took place as 32-year-old Nityananda was about to sit in a police vehicle after being produced before a judicial magistrate, who remanded him to police custody for four days last night, police said.
About 50 to 60 onlookers had gathered outside Judicial Magistrate Puspavathi's home and as soon as Nityananda came out and was about to sit in the vehicle, an onlooker flung a slipper and yelled at him, hurling expletives, a police official said.
Nityananda, along with his close aide Nitya Bhaktananda, who was also arrested and brought from Solan in Himachal Pradesh, was taken away by police, he said.
The duo have been lodged in a special cell at the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) office in the city.
After remaining elusive for more than a month, Nityananda was arrested along with four associates in a joint operation by Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh police teams in Solan district on Wednesday.
The Tamil Nadu police registered cases for various crimes, including rape, against Nityananda before transferring them to Karnataka police.
The cases were registered after TV channels telecast purported video footage showing Nityananda in a compromising position with a Tamil actress. Nityananda, however, has denied the allegations and announced he would lead a life of "spiritual seclusion" after quitting as head of his ashram in Bidadi in the outskirts of Bangalore.