Tainted sadhus to be kept away from Kumbh

The Ak hil Bharatiya Akhara Parish ad, the apex body of Hindu as cetic organizations, has ban ned two mahamandaleshwars (high priests) facing crimina charges from participating in the ongoing Nashik Kumbh's first Shahi Snan on August 29 and is probing a third.

Parishad president Narendra Giri told TOI that the ban was imposed as “part of the process to cleanse the community of saints of criminal elements. The Parishad has identified two controversial saints and asked their akharas to ban them. They will be allowed to attend religious func tions only after they are cleared of all charges“.

Alleged pub and discotheque owner-turned-saint Swami Sachidanand of Noida and Radhe Maa of Mumbai have been banned while Trikal Bhawanta of Allahabad is being investigated.

It is alleged that Swami Sachidanand, alias Sachin Dutta, has several criminal cases against him in Haryana and Punjab, including for fraud and land grab. A resident of Noida since 2003, Dutta also owned a discotheque and a beer pub. He took sanyas on Guru Purnima on Friday last week. Swami Sachidanand alias Sachin Dutta ran a real estate business, Balaji Construction, with his father Rajender Kumar Dutta, who retired from the UP power department as SDO Ghaziabad.

Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad chief Narendra Giri said, “We've been told the discotheque and liquor business were owned by his (Dutta's) father and he assisted him. The committee will also probe his intention behind taking sanyas.“ For the last year or so, Dutta was underground.The sudden news of his becoming mahamandaleshwar surprised many including his neighbours, who said he lived a flamboyant life, very unlike a sanyasi's.

Radhe Maa, Giri said, was being stopped from the shahi snan and other religious functions because she faces charges of dowry harassment and cheating along with six others in Kandivili police station in Mumbai.“I've written to Juna Akhara head Hari Giri to stop Radhe Maa as she has courted controversies in the past,“ said Giri, adding that disputes related to seers send a wrong message and time was ripe to take extreme steps against all such controversial saints. On Trikal Bhawanta of Allaha bad, Giri said, “The process of identifying such mahants and mahamandaleshwars is under way. We'll take a decision only after receiving reports against them.