VARANASI: Sensation prevailed at the Paramhans ashram of Swami Adggadanand in Sakteshgarh of Chunar area in Mirzapur district on Thursday morning when a sevadar (servitor) Jivan Baba alias Jeet (45) committed suicide by shooting himself after opening fire on a fellow seer Ashish Maharaj (46).
SP Mirzapur Santosh Kumar Mishra told TOI, "The ashram people initially tried to conceal the fact regarding the incident. But, after police found an injured Ashish Maharaj in a hospital of Chandauli, they agreed to file a complaint for lodging an FIR in this connection. A senior officer is being assigned to probe into the matter."
Reason behind Jivan Baba's suicide not clear so far
Jivan Baba had died on the spot and his body was sent for postmortem," he added.
During initial investigation of police, it came to light that Swami Adgadanand, who had earned fame especially after authoring 'Yatharth Gita', was present in the ashram while all other seers and servitors were busy in routine work on Thursday morning when sound of firing was heard. When the ashram members reached the spot where the firing had taken place, the body of Jivan Baba was lying in a pool of blood while Ashish Maharaj was lying at some distance with bullet injuries near his waist.
Before the cops from Chunar police station could reach the spot, the ashram authorities rushed Ashish Maharaj to a private hospital in the neighbouring Chandauli district. Later, CO Chunar Ramanand Rai along with a heavy police force and dog squad reached the spot.
Cops recovered two country-made revolvers from the spot. The ashram authorities kept the cops in the dark regarding Ashish Maharaj. However, police later found in the CCTV footage that Ashish Maharaj had also suffered bullet injury and was taken out of the ashram.
SP Mirzapur said that when police failed to search Ashish Maharaj in the district hospital of Mirzapur and also in Varanasi, they contacted the Chandauli police, who confirmed that Ashish Maharaj was admitted to a private hospital there and his condition was stable after successful surgery.
He said that the reason for committing suicide by Jivan Baba, who belonged to Madhya Pradesh, after opening fire on Ashish Maharaj was not clear so far.
