Targetting the BJP over the death of Mahant Narendra Giri, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Tuesday said “Hindutva has been strangulated” in Uttar Pradesh and sought a CBI probe into the “mysterious death” of the top seer.
The influential Hindu seer was found dead on Monday at Baghambari Muth in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh. He was the president of Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, the largest organisation of sadhus in India.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Mr. Raut said the reason cited for the seer’s death is suicide, but his followers feel that he was murdered.
“Someone has strangulated Hindutva in Uttar Pradesh. There should be a CBI inquiry (into the seer’s death) the way we (Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra) did in Palghar,” Mr. Raut said.
Referring to the lynching of two sadhus and their driver in Palghar in April 2020, Mr. Raut said the BJP had at that time said that Hindutva had been attacked.
On April 16, 2020, a mob lynched two sadhus – Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70) and Sushilgiri Maharaj (35) – and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30) at Gadchinchale in Palghar district, 140km north of Mumbai.
Recalling his party’s links with the top seer, Mr. Raut said he was associated with the Kumbh Mela and the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and as a Hindutva organisation, the Shiv Sena received his blessings several times.
According to Inspector General of Police K. P. Singh, Mahant Giri’s body was found hanging from the ceiling by his disciples.
A purported suicide note of seven-eight pages was also found at the site in which the seer had written that he was mentally disturbed and was ending his life. The seer had written he was upset with one of his disciples, the police said.
