It's not me in Nityananda sex video: Ranjita

Popular South Indian actress Ranjitha on Friday denied that she was the woman in a much-publicized sex romp video involving self-proclaimed godman Nityananda Swami.

"I am not the woman in the video. What has happened in the last few months has been fabricated," Ranjitha said at a press meet in Bangalore in her first public appearance after the sex scandal broke out in March.

Ranjita also lodged a police complaint on Thursday against Lenin Karuppan, former driver of Nityananda, who reportedly captured the said video showing the swami in the sex act and then released the video clippings. In her complaint, she accused Lenin of maligning her image.

Ranjitha said she had no knowledge about alleged sexual exploitation by the swami. "I do not know anything about this. I came to know it only from media reports." She, however, asserted that she has been a devotee of Nityananda for over a year now as she was interested in social work and spirituality.

The actress claimed that media had hounded and maligned her just because she was a public personality. She denied she had absconded after the video was first telecast by some Tamil TV channels.

"I was scared. I was threatened. Hence I left for the United States on March 3 and returned on June 14. I am an ordinary woman with my own fears. I did not know what will happen to me or to my parents. So I went away. I was not absconding," she said, adding that though the video episode had harmed her career, she is still getting offers.