Prayagraj: From big money, real estate, to blackmail and a tussle for power, the alleged suicide of Mahant Narendra Giri, head of the Baghambari Mutt in Prayagraj, has thrown up varied possibilities of what might have forced him to take his life and has got the investigators to probe each of these aspects during their investigation.
According to sources, someone could be blackmailing the seer — who was the head of the Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad — for money or land or to be the next contender for the post of the Akhara head.
The Akhil Bhartiya Akhara Parishad, which currently has 13 akharas under it, not just receives massive donations from devotees but also owns land worth crores, which is procured by the trust for purposes of building ashrams, schools, mutts and even farming, sources in the police said.
The investigation, the police claim, has found that Giri would often give his disciples money to build houses for their families and luxury cars for their use and in the process had even irked a few of them who did not receive as much as they expected from the guru.
“We looked into the possible reasons of what may have led the seer to kill himself. It is a complex investigation, which has many layers. From a possible conspiracy to a blackmail angle where even money and property or position could be a motive. Nothing is very clear as of now, but all angles need to be explored,” a senior police officer privy to the investigation told ThePrint.
“From roping in forensic experts to examine the letter to collection of scientific evidence and assessment of the call detail records and Giri’s mobile by technical experts, we are doing everything to take the case to a logical conclusion,” he added.
Till now the police only has a suicide note, allegedly written by Mahant Giri, in which he blames three of his disciples — Anand Giri, Hanuman Mandir Pujari Addhya Tiwari and his son Sandeep Tiwari for his death.
In the letter, Mahant Narendra Giri said he was ending his life because he fears that Anand Giri would morph his photos with a woman, in an intimate position, and leak them on the internet, tarnishing his image. Why Anand Giri would do that, however, was not clear from the note, which has been sent for a forensic examination to check its veracity.
The police have arrested the three men in abetment to suicide case and have begun the investigation to join the missing dots.
On Friday, the probe was formally handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who will now take over from the SIT formed by the Allahabad Police. The evidence that has been collected till now, the statements recorded and seizures made will be handed over to the CBI for further investigation. A team of six officials from Delhi also reached Allahabad Friday to start the investigation.
Also read: What is Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, body under spotlight after Narendra Giri’s ‘suicide’
Shifting loyalties, a conspiracy
Although, the three accused, during the interrogation, denied having blackmailed the seer, many of Mahant Giri’s disciples and his family members believe that his death was a well-thought-out “conspiracy”.
According to one of the seer’s disciples at the mutt, Anand Giri did not “respect” the mahant.
He said that Anand Giri had a dispute with the mahant over a piece of land. The land, he said, was leased out in the name of Anand Giri and was for a proposed petrol pump but Narendra Giri got it cancelled as he did not want a petrol pump in that place. Anand Giri also accused Narendra Giri of selling off the land to make profits, he said.
“The two had a tiff. Then mahant ji had asked Anand Giri to leave the mutt. He (Anand Giri) did not respect him and we could sense it. That episode had disturbed the mahant. Although, in May this year Anand Giri made a public apology and touched mahant ji’s feet, but we are not sure if he really meant it,” the disciple said.
Narendra Giri had had good relations with Anand Giri. According to Ravindra Puri, Adhyaksha of the Niranjan Akhara, Narendra Giri had given cars to Anand Giri and also helped him rise to the stage where he could start his own ashram in Haridwar.
“Anand Giri was mahant ji’s shishya (disciple) and he helped him achieve great heights. He helped him climb the ladder in the akhara,” Puri told ThePrint.
After a spat with Anand Giri, there was reportedly a shift in loyalties of some other disciples too, which further worried the mahant, a second disciple said.
A source spoke about Narendra Giri’s dispute with Addhya, the priest at the Hanuman temple and his son Sandeep.
“We are told that Sandeep was a shishya and loyalist of Anand Giri. The mahant had given him a shop to run, which he then took back. Moreover, he also asked Addhya Tiwari, who was the head priest at the Hanuman temple to step down from the post. He was asked to stay on at the temple, take his salary but was shunted from the post of the head priest,” the source said.
“This may have led to a further divide between the Mahant and the three men,” he added.
A third disciple said that this could also be a conspiracy of the trio to “dislodge the mahant from his position of power”.
The CBI will now look at these connections to establish what role the three could have played in mahant’s suicide.
“The mahant has named the three men. He has also hinted that he was being blackmailed, but the intentions of the three are not clear in the letter. It is still unknown why the three would try to blackmail the mahant if at all and that is what we will investigate now. The three may or may not have a role. It is a matter of investigation,” the source added.
Also read: Mahant Giri ordered sulphas before hanging self, recorded video suicide note, UP police say
Phone, call detail records — crucial links
The seer’s mobile phone in which he shot a video holding the three men responsible for the suicide, and the call detail records of his mobile number, are a crucial link in the investigation, police sources said.
“The CDR will help us identify who did the seer speak to in the last few days, even before 13 September, when he first wanted to attempt the suicide, according to his letter,” a third source said.
“Once we get the mobile numbers of who all he was in touch with, we would know who gave him the information about the morphed pictures that he feared will get leaked,” the source said.
In the suicide note, Giri has alleged that he got to know from “Haridwar” that Anand Giri would morph his photos using a computer or a mobile and leak them online.
“We need to know who was this caller who tipped off the mahant and what he knew. Moreover, which photos was he referring to,” the source said.
A forensic analysis of Giri’s phone will also establish if someone had sent him some threatening messages or photos or videos to blackmail him.
“The experts are going through his phone. Although it was a new phone that Giri had got only a few days ago, its deleted data is also being retrieved to see if he received any videos, photos, messages, days before he died,” the source said. “These technical evidence will help us solve the case. The teams are on it,” the source added.
All this evidence will now be handed over to the CBI for further probe. The officer of the SIT will also assist the CBI initially.
Moreover, the preliminary report of the post-mortem examination has also revealed that the seer died of hanging, ruling out any foul play in his death.
“From the post mortem examination it appears to be a case of suicide. The cause of death due to hanging and there are no external injury or resistance marks on his body to suggest that he was murdered,” the senior police officer quoted above said.
(Edited by Neha Mahajan)
Also read: ‘Feared morphed photos with woman will be leaked’: What Mahant Giri wrote in ‘suicide note’