The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh on Monday described allegations that its members abetted the suicide of a 26-year-old software engineer in Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram as “baseless” and demanded an independent investigation into the incident, ANI reported.
In a statement issued in Kottayam, RSS Dakshina Kerala joint general secretary KB Sreekumar said that such an inquiry would not only bring out the “real cause of his unnatural death, but also ensure innocence of RSS in this unfortunate incident.”
Anandu Aji was found dead by the staff of a tourist home in the Thampanoor area on Thursday evening. In an Instagram post on the same day, Aji had alleged that he was suffering from anxiety and depressive episodes following sexual abuse by members of the RSS.
“I am not angry with anyone except one person and an organisation,” read the letter posted on Aji’s Instagram account. “The organisation is RSS, which my father (a very good person) made me join. That is where I have suffered lifelong trauma, from the organisation and that person.”
He had alleged that he “was continuously sexually abused by a person”, whom he identified as “NM”, at the age of three to four years. The letter alleged that this person was a member of the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and was a neighbour and “considered like a relative by my family”.
The RSS is the parent organisation of the ruling BJP.
A case of unnatural death had been registered after the software engineer’s body was found.
On Monday, the RSS said that Aji’s death was sad and unfortunate, ANI reported.
Sreekumar demanded a “comprehensive investigation into the circumstances leading towards the unnatural death of Aji along with suicide note which appeared on Instagram and some Social Media Platforms, soon after his death”.
He added: “It [note] contains some dubious and baseless allegations against Sangh, which he claims as cause of his suicide.”
The Hindutva organisation also noted that a petition had been filed with the police in Kottayam for a “thorough and impartial” inquiry, the news agency reported.
In the petition, the RSS alleged a “deliberate and malicious attempt” to implicate the organisation, which it claimed was possibly part of a “larger conspiracy” to malign and discredit its image in the public domain, The Indian Express reported.
On Saturday, Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India, had also given written complaints to the police to investigate the allegations levelled by Aji.
On Sunday, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi called on the RSS to investigate the allegations. “The leadership of the RSS must take immediate action, they must come clean,” she said on social media.
Allegations against RSS
In the seven-page letter posted on Instagram on Thursday, Aji alleged that other members of the Hindutva organisation sexually and physically abused him during camps organised by the RSS.
Aji said that he was suffering from severe mental health disorders due to the sexual abuse he was subjected to as a child.
“I know I am not his only victim,” the letter read, referring to the person he identified as NM. “Many other children have suffered abuse at his hands and at RSS camps. It’s crucial that these children receive proper care and counselling.”
He wrote in the letter that parents should provide their children with comprehensive sex education.
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