A few days ago, the prosecutor's office in Florence ordered the search of 25 locations of MISA branches in Bologna, Florence, Milan, San Benedetto del Tronto and Bari. The police descended not only on the yoga centers, but also on the homes of those involved, seizing computers, diaries and video recordings. The investigation would have been triggered by the complaints made by at least two possible victims of Bivolaru's disciples, following the experiences they had within the organization.
"Il secolo XIX" recorded (December 10, 2012) that the investigators interviewed 10 witnesses - possible injured parties. They are women and men between 20-30 years old who, according to the indictment, would have been brought into a state of psychological submission and then convinced to indulge in violent sexual practices, filmed without their knowledge. According to the teachings of the MISA courses, sexual practices are "necessary for spiritual evolution".
Although initially there were 18 suspects, the same source mentions that at the moment there are 20 people investigated in the investigation, students and instructors of the searched centers. Investigations are ongoing to determine the destination of the video recordings made without the knowledge or consent of the participants. Among the hypotheses is the fact that the respective films would have followed the same path as those from Miss Shakti 2001 and 2002, namely the circuit of films for adults.
Roberto Zambrenti who, together with Daniela Trogu, coordinates the Atman Yoga Center in Genoa, did not want to comment either on the articles that appeared recently in the Italian press, or on the complaints and criticisms brought to MISA on the www.exmisa.org forum. But he told the Italian press that he considered the investigation by the prosecutor's office in Florence to be unfounded: "It is the faithful copy of other judicial attacks that this school endures in different countries: it happened recently in Finland, and now it is happening here in Italy."
The MISA press office stated as early as Friday, December 7, 2012, in a statement published on the sect's official website, that the investigations in Italy would be based on the complaints of "a chef of Romanian origin who lives in Italy and who wanted to take revenge because he was expelled from the Romanian yoga school".