Doctor claims foul play in Osho death

Twenty-six years after Osho Rajneesh’s “suspicious death”, his disciple has asked the Bombay high court for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter.

Twenty-six years after Osho Rajneesh’s “suspicious death”, his disciple has asked the Bombay high court for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter.

A Koregaon Park resident, Yogesh Thakkar, filed a petition claiming that those close to Osho, who died on January 19, 1990, did not let the doctor present there examine him and just asked him to issue a death certificate. The petitioner has annexed an affidavit by Dr Gokul Gokani, who was present in Osho Ashram on the day of the guru’s death. Dr Gokani, who was Osho’s disciple since 1973, in his affidavit, has said that he was not allowed to see Osho before he died and was asked to issue his death certificate only after the spiritual guru had breathed his last.

The petition named Michael Byrne and Dr John Andrews as the ones involved in the conspiracy. It alleged that some of the accused have “played a role” in Osho’s demise.

In the affidavit, dated December 14, 2015, Dr Gokani has narrated the entire sequence of events on the day of Osho’s death. He has mentioned that when he asked the disciples about what he should write as the cause of Osho’s death, two of them told him to say he died of a heart attack. The ENT surgeon, while talking about his reason for coming up with this affidavit 25 years after Osho’s death, said after talking to other disciples, he realised that there were serious mismatch between statements of Osho’s close disciples, who were at the helm of affairs then.