The Tamil Nadu police held a search operation at Jaggi Vasudev’s Isha Yoga Centre in Thondamuthur near Coimbatore on Tuesday, October 1, a day after the Madras High Court sought details of criminal cases against the Isha Foundation. Nearly 100 police personnel including three Deputy Superintendents of Police (DSPs) were present during the search. 

“We are holding a thorough verification of inmates, and the search of rooms at the foundation,” a senior police officer was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. In a statement, the Isha Yoga Centre said the police had come for a general enquiry. 

The police search comes after the Madras High Court heard a habeas corpus filed by a 69-year-old man, who has alleged that his two daughters were held captive inside the Isha Foundation. While the women said they were at Isha Foundation under their own volition, the court decided to probe further saying it had certain doubts about the case. “We want to know why a person who had given his daughter in marriage [referring to Jaggi Vasudev’s daughter Radhe], and made her settle well in life, is encouraging the daughters of others to tonsure their heads and live the life of a hermitess,” the court said.

The petitioner also said ‘certain persons’ were being brainwashed and converted as monks at the foundation, and that they were not allowed to meet their family members. He also alleged that a doctor working at the foundation was arrested in a case under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. 

In a subsequent statement, the Isha Yoga Centre refuted the claims made by the petitioner. “Isha Yoga Center is home to thousands who are not monks and a few who have taken Brahmacharya or Monkhood. Despite this, the Petitioner wanted the monks to be produced before the Court and the monks have presented themselves before the court,” it said.

The yoga centre also alleged in its statement that the petitioner had tried trespassing into its premises to enquire about the facts surrounding the crematorium before filing a criminal complaint against the foundation. “Against this, the Hon’ble High court of Madras has granted a stay on submission of the final report by the police. Apart from this, there is no other criminal case against the Foundation. Whoever indulges in spreading false information against the foundation will be strictly dealt with as per the law of the land,” the statement read.