Rajkot Police form 4 teams to probe mahant’s suicide

RAJKOT: The city police have formed four teams to probe the suicide case of 60-year-old mahant Sadhu Jayramdas Bapu and nab the absconding accused, informed deputy commissioner of police (Zone I) Praveen Meena during a media briefing on Thursday.
“Our team visited the Ashram where the mahant committed suicide by consuming poisonous substance and collected bed-sheets for forensic examination.We have also collected ashes from the site where the mahant was cremated for DNA test and we have also collected his writing samples and sent it to a handwriting expert for analysis,” Meena said.
Police have also seized CCTV footage from the ashram. On Tuesday, Rajkot police had lodged a complaint against three persons in connection with the suicide of the mahant, who died on June 1 at his ashram in Rajkot city.
FIR was lodged against Alpesh Solanki, a resident of Pedhavada village of Kodinar taluka, Hitesh Jadav, a resident of Prashnavada village in Sutrapada taluka, and Vikram Sohla, a resident of Gandhigram area of Rajkot city.
Sadhu Jayramdas Bapu was found dead in his room at the ashram in Kagadadi village near Rajkot on June 1 evening. Initially, his followers thought that he died of cardiac arrest and cremated him the following day. But two days after his death, the mahant’s followers found a 20-page suicide note which mentioned names of the accused while cleaning his room. The suicide note also had details about how he was being blackmailed by the accused using a video which showed him with a woman.
Police sources said that Alpesh and Hitesh had reportedly extorted Rs 20 lakh from Sadhu over the last one and a half year by blackmailing him. After the suicide note surfaced, trustees of Shree Khodiyar dham Ashram education and charitable trust approached police and lodged a complaint against accused.
Police are also searching two women who had been filmed with Mahant by the accused allegedly to extract money.