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The mortal remains of controversial godman Chandraswami were consigned to flames at Nigambodh Ghat in New Delhi on Thursday – a quiet farewell to a man who once counted the mighty and powerful as his friends.
Neeraj Shekhar, son of the late Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, attended the cremation along with his nephew and followers of the spiritual leader, who died at the age of 66 of multi-organ failure at a Delhi hospital on Tuesday.
Often mired in controversy, his name was notably linked to the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
In addition to this, Chandraswami was involved in a string of criminal cases that ranged from FERA violations to blackmail, to illicit arms deals.
An income-tax raid on his ashram is reported to have uncovered original drafts of payments of millions of dollars to Khashoggi, who was allegedly implicated in the ‘Iran-Contra affair’ as a key middleman in the arms-for-hostages exchange along with Iranian arms dealer Manucher Ghorbanifar.
(With inputs from PTI)
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