Cuttack, Nov. 5: Self-styled spiritual leader Santosh Kumar Raula alias Sarathi baba, who is in jail for 90 days now, has urged Orissa High Court to restrain the media from defaming him in public "with false and manufactured stories till completion of investigation".

Sarathi has filed a 12-page petition seeking high court's intervention to stop the unrelenting slander campaign against him in the media.

The CID-crime branch had registered a case against the baba on August 7 and arrested him on charges of cheating, forgery, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation under IPC. He has also been charged under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and Religious Institutions (Prevention of Misuse) Act.

In his petition, Sarathi said "imaginary" stories were appearing both in print and electronic media alleging his involvement in sexual offences though nothing has surfaced so far during investigation.

"As the matter is under investigation and pending before the court of law, the attempt to influence judicial proceedings by unnecessary scandalous allegations, imputation and objectionable imaginary figure of the petitioner should not be allowed. It will seriously affect the investigation as well as trial of the case," the petition alleged.

"The petition was filed yesterday," Sarathi's counsel Manas Chand said today.

The petitioner said in a Durga Puja pandal in Bhubaneswar his "imaginary statue" was shown pulling the sari of women. A Lakshmi Puja pandal in Kendrapara had a similar statue with " bhanda Sarathi" written in placards.

"Besides, some CDs with vulgar pictures and satirical songs are being sold in the open market and also uploaded in the Internet with the caption - Sarathi," the petition said.