Mahant Narendra Giri’s Death: UP Government Recommends a CBI Probe

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday, 22 September, recommended a CBI probe into the death of the Mahant Narendra Giri, the head of Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad (ABAP), who was found dead at his residence in UP’s Prayagraj on Monday.

An initial investigation had led to the discovery of a suicide note, accusing the seer's disciple Anand Giri as well as two others. The 13-page suicide note accused Anand Giri of planning to use a morphed picture to discredit Narendra Giri.

NDTV on Thursday, 23 September, reported that Narendra Giri, an hour before his death, had recorded a 4 minute 30 second-long video which reportedly matches the suicide note found by the police.

Police officials found Giri's phone in his room after his death. Citing sources, NDTV reported that he took a quick lesson to record videos on selfie mode from a disciple on Sunday, and had recorded test videos before recording the final one.

The video recorded by Giri said that he was afraid of his disciple Anand Giri, and feared that the latter might morph a photo of him with a woman, NDTV reported.

Mahant Raju Das, in a statement issued following Giri's death, had urged Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to order an investigation into the death of the seer.

Background:

The 72-year-old seer, who headed one of the largest bodies of Hindu saints in the country, was found deceased at his Baghambari Math residence.

ADG law and order Prashant Kumar had stated, "When it was time for his (Narendra Giri's) disciples to leave in the evening, they found the door was locked from inside. When the disciples broke the door and looked inside, his dead body was hanging from a nylon rope. A suicide note has also been found in which he has written about the torture of Anand Giri."

Investigation So Far

The Prayagraj police had constituted an 18-member special investigation team (SIT) to probe the high-profile 'suicide' case. The SIT is being led by Ajeet Singh Chauhan, circle officer (IV) in Prayagraj.

An FIR had been lodged against Anand Giri on Tuesday. He was later detained by the police and was brought to Prayagraj for interrogation. On Wednesday, Anand Giri was sent to 14-day judicial custody.

The chief priest of the Bade Hanuman temple, Adya Prasad Tiwari, and his son Sandeep Tiwari were also detained and interrogated by the police.

Meanwhile, the accused Anand Giri had called the allegation against him a conspiracy. "It is a big conspiracy by people who used to extort money from Guruji and wrote my name in the letter. It needs to be investigated as Guruji has not written a letter in his life and could not kill himself. His handwriting needs to be probed," he had stated.