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.
Chandraswami, whose actual name was Nemi Chand, shot to fame as an astrologer. He wielded enormous power during the regime of then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, and was seen as one of Rao’s trusted aides and advisers.
Chandraswami Faced a String of Criminal Cases
Often mired in controversy, his name was notably linked to the investigation into the assassination of former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.
In its report on the assassination, the Jain Commission dedicated a volume to Chandraswami’s alleged involvement in the case. Seventeen years after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, however, the Enforcement Directorate was still investigating Chadraswami’s role as the financier.
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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