Narendra Giri's death: Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath promises probe from all angles

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday that all angles related to the death of All India Akhara Parishad president Narendra Giri will be brought to light and the culprit will be punished. He, however, cautioned against making unnecessary statements citing the sensitivity of the case.

While opposition leaders demanded that the case be probed by agencies other than the UP police, the state government formed a special investigative team to probe the death.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav demanded a judicial probe by a sitting judge of the high court. Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said 21 sadhus and saints have died or been killed under suspicious circumstances in UP under Yogi's rule and demanded a CBI probe under the supervision of a bench of the Supreme Court or high court.

Both Yogi and Yadav were in Prayagraj to give their last tribute to Giri who was found dead a day earlier in an apparent case of suicide by hanging.

An FIR was filed on Tuesday against Anand Giri, a disciple of Narendra Giri, under charges of abetment of suicide. A purported suicide note that the police recovered from the spot mentioned the names of Anand Giri and two other disciples - Adya Tiwari and Sandeep Tiwari - whom the mahant was "disappointed" with, the police said on Monday.

The purported suicide note meanwhile found its way into circulation on social media Tuesday, which held the three responsible for his suicide. According to it, he was informed that Anand Giri was about to "morph" a photo of his in an objectionable way with a woman and make it viral. He said while the truth would have come out later, he did not want to live with the disrepute it would have caused.

ADGP (law and order) Prashant Kumar neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of the note in circulation. Adityanath, who is also a representative of the seer community, hailed Giri for his contributions, especially in organising the Kumbh in 2019.