Kids complain to police about Nirmal Baba

The brother sister duo of Tanya and Aditya Thakur has complained to the Lucknow police about the god man called Nirmal Baba who beams into Indian homes from  numerous television channels everyday.

The two feel the Baba is offering "unrealistic and absurd" solutions to problems presented by the thousands of "innocent" followers who pay Rs 2,000 each to attend his assemblies called 'samagam".

Tanya, a student of class 12 says, "When we watched him for the first time on television we were appalled that no one was doing anything against him".

The siblings, born to an IPS father and a social activist mother first went to a police station in the capital’s Gomti Nagar area on Tuesday to register a report under sections 417, 419, 420 and 508 of the Indian Penal Code (sections that cover cheating, cheating by impersonation, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property and acts caused by inducing a person to believe that he will become an object of divine displeasure respectively). They were however turned away with the logic that since the matter belonged to outside the state, a case could not be registered.

Aditya says, "Then we found out that the law makes it possible to lodge a police report anywhere in the country". So on Wednesday they went back to the police station where their complaint was formally received and an entry made into the daily diary.

The complaint offers examples of the absurd solutions offered by the poker faced Baba-- a man was asked to button his shirt slowly if he wanted prosperity and another was asked to forgo his traditional barber for a parlour!

The complaint reads: These acts amount to cheating because every attendee at the assembly (if above two years of age) is asked to deposit Rs 2,000 as fees…he is cheating the poor, uneducated masses”.

It also makes a mention of media reports that a conman duped the Baba of Rs 1.25 crores and asks, “If he could not protect his own bank account, how can he benefit others?”

The Baba with a little revealed past was born Nirmal Namdhari and owned a brick kiln before suddenly turning spiritual. His own brother-in-law, Inder Singh Namdhari, a Member of Parliament from Chatra has made his displeasure at the Baba’s ways known to the media.

The god man’s website refers to his “third eye” and lists the 36 channels in India and abroad that telecast his programmes and details on how to make “non refundable” “non transferable” payments for attendance of his samagam. Such is his popularity that entry to all listed samagams is completely booked.