Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad head Mahant Narendra Giri found dead; 'suicide note' found at spot

The president of the Akhil Bharatiya Akhada Parishad, the largest organisation of seers and saints in India, Mahant Narendra Giri, was found dead at his Baghambari Math residence in Prayagraj on Monday. According to the police, Giri's body was found hanging in a room by one of his disciple and there was a 'suicide note' at the spot.

Additional director general of police Prashant Kumar said that prima facie it appeared to be suicide, but the police would look into all aspects during investigation. The seer's disciple Anand Giri, whose name was mentioned in the note, was detained in Haridwar.

Prayagraj IG KP Singh told reporters that the police was informed about the seer's death by one of his disciples around 5:20 pm, after which a team of police and forensic officials rushed to the spot. The body was on the floor and a rope was hanging from the fan. Singh said one of the disciples had cut the rope and laid the body on the floor.

"A 7-page suicide letter was also found at the spot, which will be forensically tested for authentication," Singh said. The letter said Narendra Giri was upset with some of his disciples, including Anand Giri. "He had written that he was saddened by a lot of reasons and that he had lived with respect all his life and was not ready to give up his respect," Singh said, adding that the letter mentioned who should inherit what.

Revered by the entire seer community, Giri had been a strong proponent of the Ram temple and Mathura-Kashi movements. Ahead of the 2019 general elections, he criticised BJP saying it was not interested in construction of the Ram temple as it wanted to keep the issue alive for elections. However, he was invited for the bhoomi pujan last year.

Mahant Raju Das, head priest of the Hanumangarhi temple in Ayodhya, alleged foul play in the death and called for a high-level investigation. Anand Giri in a statement to ANI alleged that the whole incident was part of a 'conspiracy' to extort money. "Guruji has not written a letter in his life and couldn't commit suicide. The handwriting needs to be probed," he said, dismissing allegations of tension between him and the mahant.

Political leaders condoled the death. "The death of Shri Narendra Giri ji, president of Akhara Parishad is extremely sad. While being devoted to spiritual traditions, he also played a big role in bringing together many streams of the seer community. May the lord give him a place at his feet," PM Modi said in his condolence message. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and other political leaders too condoled the death.