The Sadhu (Saint) who robbed me while I was Praying !!

Asharam Bapu ji - A Fake Sadhu in DisguiseBabri Mazad and Gujarat riots are not the only incidents which establish a nexus between crime and religion.

Have you ever imagined that the Sadhu or saint you always looked up to, might being a criminal?  Probably not !  but you are wrong on this, many of our religious protagonists have been caught by law for committing heinous crimes like rapes, child slaughter, murders and frauds.  In November 2009 two sadhus Ramcharan Rathod and Balram Patel were arrested in Junagarh for kidnapping fourteen year old boy.

Recently police exposed a multimillion pound prostitution racket in south Delhi. The police suspects a Hindu Swami (Shiv Myra Dwivedi) used his temple to provide as many as 200 prostitutes. The prostitutes also included air hostesses and students. They solicited for clients in five star hotels. He claimed to have more than 100,000 followers including leading politicians. He was arrested by undercover officers. It is suspected that the accused had connections in other states like Uttar Pradesh Charges of MCOCA are levied against him i.e. he will be prosecuted for organised crime of prostitution.

In September 2009, the police had arrested a sadhu in Alandi (near Pune). He owned an ashram in which children come from different parts of Maharashtra to learn music and other skills. The ashram had residential facilities and at the time of his arrest 20 students were enrolled in the same. The police said “He used to lure them to his room in the ashram on the pretext of massaging his arms and legs and then performed unnatural sexual acts with them. The incident came into light when a thirteen year old boy told about the incidents to his parents.” Subsequently five more boys turned up with the same grievances. The Sadhu was charged under Section 377(unnatural offences) and Section 506(criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.

Sadhu Santosh Madhavan was jailed in Kerela for 16 years for raping and illegally confining two young girls from an orphanage that he ran. Police had also found pornographic material and drugs in his ashram.

Spiritual Guru Asaram Bapu and two of his disciples were charged with attempt to murder. Raju Chandak, the victim suffered three bullet injuries. He had alleged that mysterious deaths of two boys – Dipesh Weghela and Abhishek Waghela who were studying in a residential school  which was in the premises of Asaram’s ashram was due to the activities performed in the ashram. It was contended by media that black magic acts were performed in the ashram. These are not the only illegal activities carried out in the premises of the ashram. The police has charged him under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Arms Act.

These are not the only cases of fraud, abduction, murders, rapes that have been associated with these god men. The strength of these protagonists lies in the support given by their followers. The people religiously and blindly follow their idols. They believe that the charges are conspired against their spiritual leaders. They not only enjoy the support of the public but also get favours from the political parties. Most of these criminals have close nexus with politicians, elites and senior officials. Thus police operations are hindered at every possible stage by the authorities. They also enjoy the privilege of being extremely rich. With the passage of time they succeed in draining the wealth of their followers. Mostly their abstinence is accompanied by luxuries. They have huge mansions, numerous servants, luxury cars and unlimited money. They often use these things to bribe the system.

It is true that all saints are not monsters, but what about those who are? They not only play with the values of people but they also manipulate their subjects. They use their oratory skills to deceive public at large. The media and police have time and again exposed such cases but the public is still venerable. In spite of various awareness programmes people blindly follow their gurus. This has often increased the crime. At times when a Sadhu is caught the people hinder the working of police through their violent protests.

I’m attaching an Article published in the Hindu along with mail.  It exposes some of the magic tricks employed by Sadhu’s to deceive people.

http://www.thehindu.com/2003/07/27/stories/2003072703250500.htm

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18 thoughts on “The Sadhu (Saint) who robbed me while I was Praying !!

  • at 8:50 PM
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    Always the cheaters and the cheat….”sadhus”?? Hardly 🙂

  • at 11:53 PM
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    quite true braja.. most of them cheat innocent people…

  • at 10:54 AM
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    The attitude,nature and the capablities even in one family differ hence displacinga and quoting all saints on a single plateform is not correct. There is alot of differecen between Saint Asaram and others name quoted by you in the article. The only thing which you and common man should understand is that he is victiminized by the greed and unintregated people from missionaries, media and politicis to that extent that people like you dare to write such unhealthy article against the spiritural culture of India . There is always a difference between good and Bad, but your articel diplaks both on single platerform. A Very poor & Negative articel.

  • at 11:31 AM
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    Saints in disguise can really ruin one’s belief in mankind. These people rob people using God’s name but to be frank what I feel like is that they never became saints, they must have always been robbers.. only thing is people made them great ..

    also if one thinks that illiteracy is the root i really doubt it.. because there are so many smart and highly literate people who get fooled by these saffron cloth men…

  • at 1:42 PM
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    May be But case against Asaram ji Bapu is not true. Its a clear cut conspiracy against such a great saint of India.there are no evidence against his ashram, Raju chandok was not even shot, he creted a story and moving freely,Millions of people are getting benifit from him and ashrams even today.

  • at 5:45 PM
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    I would request you to read the post again.. I have no where mentioned that all saints are robbers in the post but I have mentioned what are the criminal acts that sadhus have been charged or prosecuted . You have the right to differ but the article was intended to make people aware of the crimes that can be commited against them by their idols.

  • at 5:48 PM
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    You are correct… The its not about illiteracy but unawareness which prevails in all strata of the society.

  • at 5:55 PM
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    Ashish the whole problem in sensitive cases like these is that at times the opinions are colored. People think that their guru is being fabricated for acts that were not done by him. The administration, media and police thinks otherwise. Since his crime has not been established I have not commented on whether or not he is guity for the same but the two deaths in the ashram have definitely tained his image.

  • at 11:49 AM
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    The two deaths in Ashram were due to negligence of the ashram authority, but not due to those reasons, which are being projected and fabricated by the Media & Politics etc. Yes to Taint the image of Saint Asaram, every word, action, discourse, movements of his are scrutinized by people who are motivated with greed to challenge the very existence of Hinduism and its symbols in form of saints. There is always Justice to what we deliver to others by words or action. Lets not comment negative unless verdict is delivered.

  • at 1:20 PM
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    That is precisely my point. I have not commented on the case but have highlighted the facts and even if those incidents occured due to the negligence of ashram authorities the same has undoubtly tained the image of the ashram.
    I think you cannot associate hinduism with only saints and sadhus.. Hinduism is much more than that, it is a way of living. No one can ever challenge hinduism by only challenging one of its protaginists. It is a faith which exists in the hearts of the people and in not just the words of the pundits. If some one even Saint Asaram Bapu for that matter, is scrutinized by people what is the harm in that? He is also a citizen of the country and is as much legally bound as anyone else, moreover if he is not guity, his innocence would be established in due course of time. Why not hear both sides of story (from the media, Raj Chandak, politicians etc and the ashram itself)?
    If he is being tried by media in certain respects, he is also being acquitted by people in others. As rightly said by you lets not comment positive or negative until the verdict is delivered.

  • at 5:08 PM
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    Seems like another Sadhu just got caught – “In yet another shocking incident, a self-styled god man Swami Nityananda has been found involved in a sex scandal after a news channel released footage showing him in a compromising position with Tamil actresses, who have not been been identified yet.”
    Read full article here – http://ow.ly/1e55z

  • at 5:12 PM
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    thnks tanmay for the informative article. It is really sweet of you to contribute.

  • at 3:12 PM
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    woClR6 Excellent article, I will take note. Many thanks for the story!

  • at 1:40 PM
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    You cannot post the articals by just seeing one side of the story.
    If you are so atheist and leave no stone unturned to defame Saints, then its your morel duty to show the other side of the story as well.
    Why do you not post about the sting operation done by a2z news channel and the truth about Swami Nityananda?
    You have highlighted charges against Saints, would you dare to write about scandles in Kerala church or the Madarsas where anty national things are tought?
    You have easily used words such as Sadhu and Saint, do you have guts to write such things about Maulvis or Maulanas?
    Saints are calm and quiet, so yokel people like you get lot of spice to defame them.

  • at 1:46 PM
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    Meghna, Darul ulum emposed a ban on singing of Vande matram by the Muslims, if you are not hesitating for even a fraction of a second to criticise Saints, then also criticise this ban!

  • at 1:28 AM
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    Avichal.. I’m not hesitant to criticize muslim protagonist as well.. The post was written long time back focusing on how our beliefs are being manipulated by our own religious god men. I’m not against faith but blind faith in anything. Our ignorance is resulting in our own loss..

  • at 9:52 AM
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    Meghna, if this is the case, then I shall expect a post criticising the ban on singing of vande matram very soon.
    Also, if you say that we shouldn’t be ignorent to words Hindu Saints, then we also can not shut our eyes on the scandles taking place in churches in Kerala.
    You can not just try to save your neck by writing that you are not hesitant to criticise any body, you need to prove it.

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