A conditional bail was granted to controversial self-styled Godman Nityananda by the Karnataka High Court, on Friday. The accused had been blamed with charges of rape, criminal bullying and cheating.

Nityananda is likely to walk a free man, once the bail order is produced before the jail authorities and the Ramnagaram Magistrate.

Bhaktananda, and two other officials of the Criminal Investigation Department Karnataka along with Nityananda had been arrested from a house in Mamlig village, near Solan in Himachal Pradesh on April 21.

When the Karnataka High Court dismissed his petition for anticipatory bail, since then Nityananda had been on the run, residing in the Dhyanapeeta Ashrama at Bidadi in Ramanagaram district 35 km from Bangalore.

Being accused of having intimate relations with a female Tamil actor from Chennai, several TV channels showed videos of them in his bedroom at the Bidadi ashram. Then, came the news of Nityanada's disappearance and once the Bidadi police registered a case, the CID took over.

Since then Nityananda has been in jail. Having filed several petitions this is the first petition to bring him some relief. Justice Subash B. Adi, in his order, has allowed the bail petition of Nityananda with stern conditions.

He asked the Godman to abstain from giving any dissertations or going away without consent of the Jurisdictional Court from Ramanagara/Bangalore. He also asked Nityananda to furnish a personal bond of Rs. 1 lakh and two sureties of Rs. 1 lakh each. His passport has also been confiscated.