In yet another horrific incident involving Sadhus, Shivacharya Nirvanarudra Pashupatinath Maharaj, a Sadhu living in Nanded district was murdered inside his ashram on Sunday. The incident was reported at around 3:30 AM. A body of another person named Bhagwan Shinde has been found in the bathroom of the same monastery where Shivacharya Maharaj was assassinated.
A sadhu's body was found at his Ashram in Nanded's Umri late last night: Vijaykumar Magar, Superintendent Of Police, Nanded. More details awaited. #Maharashtra
— ANI (@ANI) May 24, 2020
The police suspect that the perpetrators entered the Mutt with an intention to steal. They had looted ₹69,000, a laptop and other valuables from the victim’s bedroom totalling around ₹1.50 lakh, besides his car keys. As Shivacharya tried to catch them, he was strangled to death with a cable. The murderers who tried to flee the spot in the Sadhu’s car while hiding the corpses in the car trunk crashed the car at the gate. Upon hearing the crash noise, a few inmates ran outside and saw the murderers jumping onto a two-wheeler and speeding off into the darkness.
Police have said that the murderers who are on the run have been identified.
The incident comes within weeks of the Palghar lynching where 2 Sadhus Sushilgiri Maharaj and Chikne Maharaj Kalpavriksha Giri belonging to the Juna Akhara and the driver Nilesh Telwade were lynched to death by a mob in Ghadchinchale village when they were on their way to a funeral.