Nityananda remanded in judicial custody till May 12

The court in Ramanagaram, 40 km from Bangalore, passed the remand order when Nityananda was produced before it after eight days of police custody, said the police. The police said the Karnataka criminal investigation department, probing various criminal charges against Nityananda, has not been able to make much headway in eliciting any information from him.

"We are in the process of analysing the documents and the memory card which we seized from Nityananda's former disciple Lenin Karuppanan, when he was summoned for questioning last week," the police said.

Lenin had claimed to have recorded the video clippings purportedly showing Nityananda in a compromising position with a woman. The clippings were telecast by local TV channels.

Nityananda, who remained elusive for over a month after the alleged sleaze scam came to light, was nabbed along with his close aide Nitya Bhaktananda alias Seelam Reddy in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh on April 21.

After landing himself in the controversy, Nityananda has quit as the head of the ashram and said he would lead a life of 'spiritual seclusion'.