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‘Golden Baba’: Sadhu wears jewellery worth Rs 3 cr, seeks security
A sadhu, called Golden Baba, moves around jewellery worth more than Rs 3 crore. He recently asked for security to protect himself.
He is a sadhu but loves gold, and plenty of it.
They call him the Golden Baba -- he wears jewellery worth more than Rs 3 crore. And on Saturday, the ascetic from the famous Juna Akhada of Haridwar called on Agra’s top police officer, seeking security.
The sadhu was on his way to Bareilly from Simhasth Kumbh, which concluded in Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh on May 21. He was wearing around 11.5 kg of gold and also had metal idols in his car that needed security, he told SSP Dr Preetinder Singh.
“I provided him security till Agra border and told him that if he wanted security for other districts in Uttar Pradesh, he would have to request higher authorities,” Singh said.
The baba and his cavalcade created quite a stir when they drove into the Agra collectorate. People swarmed him to take selfies. Even complainants coming into the office joined the queue of eager fans waiting to get clicked with the baba, who had chunky chains around his neck and thick bracelets on both his arms .
An ascetic and the yellow metal make for an odd combination. A sadhu is expected to shun the pulls of the material world, and live an austere life in search of God.
“For me, the gold is devta (deity). I am at peace when I wear it so I have been wearing it since 1972,” he said.
