Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad President Narendra Giri died allegedly by suicide in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj city on Monday, The Times of India reported.
The chief of the organisation of Hindu seers and ascetics was found hanging in a room at the Shri Math Baghambari Gaddi, according to the newspaper. The police claimed that they found a suicide note in which Narendra Giri accused his disciple Anand Giri of mental torture.
“We are reading the note,” Inspector General of Police KP Singh, according to NDTV. “He expressed he was upset. He also wrote what should be done with the ashram after his passing, in the form of a will.”
Anand Giri was arrested on Tuesday. He was charged under Section 306 (abetment of suicide) of the Indian Penal Code, ANI reported.
Over the last few months Narendra Giri and his disciple had been accusing each other of financial irregularities, according to The Indian Express.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were among the leaders who expressed grief over Giri’s death.
“The death of Mahant Narendra Giri ji, President of Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad, is an irreparable loss to the spiritual world,” Adityanath tweeted on Monday.
Modi remembered Giri’s contributions. “While devoted to spiritual traditions, he played a big role in connecting many streams of Sant Samaj together,” the prime minister tweeted.
On Tuesday, Adityanath paid his respects to Giri at the Baghambari Math in Prayagraj.
Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Sant Samiti, another religious organisation, demanded a thorough investigation into Giri’s death, the Hindustan Times reported.
The organisation’s General Secretary Jitendranand Saraswati asked how Giri wrote a purported three-page suicide note when he could not even sign properly.
“Under such circumstances, it should be probed if it was a murder as part of a conspiracy to implicate someone,” Saraswati said. “All this should be probed and investigated thoroughly.”
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said the state government was even willing to order a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into Giri’s death, ANI reported.
Maurya added: “[The] matter will be investigated, culprits will be given strictest punishment. [The] Government is ready to facilitate all kinds of investigation. We won’t turn away from demands of Akhada Parishad, whatever they may be.”
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