Mahant Giri was living in mental trauma, being threatened by disciple: CBI

Although Mahant Narendra Giri was under psychological pressure for months, a threat by Anand Giri to circulate purported objectionable videos and audios of the Mahant and a woman triggered him to take the extreme step, the CBI chargesheet said.

Mahant Narendra Giri, president of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, the apex body of all Hindu monastic orders, was living in such grave mental trauma due to the threat and fear created by Anand Giri, Adhya Prasad Tiwari and Sandeep Tiwari that he was compelled to die by suicide on September 20 at Baghambari Math in Prayagraj, according to the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on November 20.

CBI says Narendra Giri was under so much duress following the threat that he asked from a few people whether videos/photos of one person can be edited showing face of other person with the help of computer.(PTI)

Although Mahant Narendra Giri was under psychological pressure for months, a threat by Anand Giri to circulate purported objectionable videos and audios of the Mahant and a woman triggered him to take the extreme step that day “to avoid defamation and insult in the eyes of society, his followers and devotees”, added the charge sheet, a copy of which has been reviewed by HT.

The threat was first issued by Anand Giri on May 23 during a call between him, Mahant Ravinder Puri of Niranjani Akhara (Haridwar) and Narendra Giri. The call was supposed to iron out differences between Anand Giri and the Mahant over his expulsion from Baghambari Gaddi and Bade Hanuman Temple for alleged misappropriation of funds and continuing to maintain close ties with his family, which is against the tradition of a sanyasi. The Mahant had also removed Adhya Prasad Tiwari and his elder son Dilip Tiwari as priests of the Bade Hanuman temple and took back a flower shop inside the premises, run by Tiwari’s younger son, Sandeep Tiwari.

“During the said conversation, accused Anand Giri threatened Mahant Narendra Giri that he is in possession of many objectionable audio and videos. The wordings of Anand Giri were – ‘Mai aapko bhejunga to apke pairo ki zameen khisak jayegi aise aise video, audio mere pass hai (you will be shocked to know the kind of videos and audio I have on you)’,” stated the charge sheet.

CBI says Narendra Giri was under so much duress following the threat that he asked from a few people whether videos/photos of one person can be edited showing face of other person with the help of computer.

“On September 20, he (the Mahant) also told Manish Kumar Shukla and Abhishek Mishra (his disciples) that he was very disturbed as he had received reliable information that Anand Giri was going to release edited videos showing him with some woman,” according to the charge sheet. Narendra Giri also spoke to Mahant Santosh Dass alias Satuaa Baba in Varanasi about this. Santosh Das is the chief of the Satuaa Baba ashram near Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi.

In the run up to the suicide, between September 10 and 12, Narendra Giri also indirectly enquired from a couple of his disciples about Celphos (a fumigant) and the time it takes someone to die after consuming it, the agency has claimed. And a day before dying by suicide, he asked his disciple Sarvesh Dwivedi to bring a nylon rope from the market to fix it on the roof for drying clothes.

He was found hanging in mysterious circumstances inside the Math on September 20; he left behind a seven-page suicide note blaming the accused.

CBI filed the charge sheet in the case on Saturday in the court of the chief judicial magistrate in Allahabad charging the three accused of abetment to suicide and criminal conspiracy.

Describing the motive behind the crime, the agency said that the accused hatched a criminal conspiracy to compel/force Mahant Narendra Giri to revoke Anand Giri’s expulsion as well as return the flower shop to the Tiwaris, It adds that their objective was to get “their position in the Baghambari Gaddi and Bade Hanuman Mandir back” and that “ in pursuance thereof (they) humiliated and harassed (Narendra Giri) mentally and psychologically”.

All three accused are currently in judicial custody.

Advocate Sunil Pandey, one of the lawyers appearing for Anand Giri and the other accused, said, “Narendra Giri and Anand Giri were ‘Guru and Shishya’, the dispute between the two was a misunderstanding due to formation of one ‘Ganga Sena’ by Anand Giri as Narendra Giri wanted that Anand Giri must concentrate on the Baghambari Gaddi and not on creating any such outfit or body . However, the misunderstanding was cleared but some people surrounding Narendra Giri tried to take advantage of the situation.”

“CBI has filed a voluminous document and at present we are going through the charge sheet. Once done, we will file a bail application before the high court,” Pandey said.