A shocking attack on innocents, the climax of a decade of intra-ashram killings...meet Ayodhya's gun-toting sadhus
AYODHYA has two types of sadhus. There are the ones who bless. And the ones who kill. For quite some time, sadhus have feared their own kind in this town of 4,000-odd temples. Gun-toting chelas (disciples) of sadhus are no unusual sight for the people of this holy town where police records since 1986 list over 90 criminal cases pending trial against sadhus. But things have now drastically changed for the worse.
With the ruthless and unexpected attack by the sadhus on members of the fisherfolk community at Guptar Ghat recently, it is now the turn of the locals to start fearing. Gunshots woke up Guptar Ghat's residents on November 12, as the sadhus living next door began a reckless shootout. Says Angan Pati, who lost her husband and son on that fateful morning: "Unka bandook lekar tahalna to roj ki baat thi (walking around with guns was a routine affair for them)". The villagers that morning, she recounted, were too shocked to react. While the saffron attackers had come prepared with .12 bore guns and sharp-edged weapons, the hapless villagers had no arms. Says Ramji, who sustained gunshot injuries: "I still have nightmares thinking of that disastrous morning". Four persons were injured in the attack and four others were killed outright.
The sadhus then fled on motorbikes, while their leader, Baba Mohan Das alias Mauni Baba, mahant of the Yagya Shala ashram, took shelter in a nearby grove. The sadhus' daredevilry could have put even hardened criminals in the shade. When the police intercepted them, the sadhus opened fire. "This clearly speaks of the hardcore criminal traits of these sadhus," says B.B. Pathak, station incharge of the Cantonment police station.
"The land where the boatmen had settled, at one point belonged to the sadhus," explains district magistrate, Faizabad, M.P. Misra. Apparently, the sadhus had been given this land on a garden lease in 1985 for a period of five years. The district administration later denied them an extension of the lease. Instead, the boatmen were rehabilitated on this land after the 1984 floods. The sadhus apparently decided to forcibly occupy the land, which is adjacent to their ashram. The killings, conclude policemen, were aimed at scaring away the boatmen.
Shaken into action by this new development, the police are now making serious efforts to trace the sadhus with a background of questionable conduct. "Any good ashram would verify their background and links but it's difficult to keep a tab on them when they are outside the premises," says Ram Vilas Das Vedanti, mahant and BJP MP. Says SSP, Anil Agarwal: "An identification system has now been introduced to track down the black sheep. But, considering that every house in Ayodhya is also a temple, it is going to prove a really Herculean exercise."
Many migrants to this temple town give up their parental identity to be known only as the chela of various sadhus and mahants, an ideal situation for those who do not want to reveal their background. For the same reason, four of the five convicts in the Guptar Ghat case have been named as chelas of their mahant in the FIR, instead of the prescribed entry of their father's name. The fifth accomplice and the main accused is Mauni Baba, mahant of the Yagya Shala ashram. All five have been arrested. The police are contemplating using the National Security Act (NSA) on these so-called sadhus.
An illicit gun-running racket operating in Ayodhya through some of the temples and ashrams has also been uncovered by the police. About a dozen sadhus have been charged for possessing illicit arms and eight for attempted murder. Most of the sadhus, say police officials, have well-placed connections and possess all-India arms licenses. Only a few take care to renew their licenses. "At present we have also taken up the task of checking all those who own arms in various ashrams," says SP City, Rakesh Shankar.
GYAN Das, the mahant of Hanuman Garhi and a reputed international wrestler, accepts the fact that sadhus are increasingly indulging in criminal activities. He has plans of thrashing out the issue with the DM and the SSP. "It is sad that the present chief minister pays no attention to such problems," he says. Baba Gyan Das warns that the government should do something about miscreants in the garb of sadhus before the people lose faith in all holy men.
The warning bells have been rung by the Guptar Ghat murders which have shaken up the people of the holy town. The prominent mahants either fall short of words or quickly sidestep the issue. Says Mahant Ram Chandra Das Paramhans, who had been one of the torchbearers of the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation: "This has been happening for ages. Didn't Ravana kidnap Sita in the guise of a sadhu?"
As many mahants seem to straddle two worlds—the religious and the material—it's not surprising that several have murdered their predecessors in the hope of usurping the gaddi (the mahant's seat). The list of sadhus killed in intra-ashram rivalries is fairly long.
Mahant Ram Kripal Das of Sanatan Mandir, himself an accused in 17 criminal cases including four murders, was killed on November 29, 1996. A Samajwadi Party activist, he had taken over the post after presiding over a triple murder including that of the former mahant. It's believed that some sadhus had ganged up with Gorakhpur-based contract killers to eliminate the mahant.
Few ashrams have a clean slate. Even the Hanuman Garhi has had its share of space in the police records. The infighting within this famous Hanuman temple complex has increased with the passage of time. In 1992, a murderous attack on Deen Bandhu Das, Gaddi Nasheen of Hanuman Garhi, compelled him to resign from his post.
Later, on May 9 the following year, Shubh Karan Das, chela of Dayaram Das of Gul Chaman Bagh temple, Hanuman Garhi, was killed by Ram Bhadra Das and Raj Narain Das, both chelas of Ram Deo Das. The priest of Gul Chaman Bagh temple also joined the duo. The objective of the murder was to take over the Gul Chaman Bagh temple. Within 20 days, on May 29, half-a-dozen armed assailants shot the two Hanuman Garhi Ujjaini Patti mahants, Gopal Das and Shyam Behari Das.
The daring murder of the 45-year-old mahant Ram Agya Das of Hanuman Garhi complex, on September 30, 1995, was committed with a similar motive. According to police records, Ram Agya got hold of the mahant's seat through a court order, by producing an affidavit of the death of his guru Jugul Kishore—who was very much alive at the time. Soon after Ram Agya succeeded in taking over as the new mahant, he was shot down by Navin Das, the nominated disciple of Jugul Kishore, along with his four accomplices.
And there are many more cases of murders committed by sadhus. On September 21, 1991, Mahant Maithali Sharan of Janki Ghat, Bara Sthan was murdered, allegedly by Bal Govind Das, Girish Kumar, Kamesh Kumar Das and Janmejai Sharan Das. The latter remains the present mahant of the Janki Ghat temple, even as the case goes on.
Unknown assailants murdered the mahant of Bari Chawni, Prem Narain Das, on February 10, 1992. And in another bid to take over the mandir, Ram Das of Athrawan temple gunned down Vinod Das, chela of Naga Vasudev of Matgaind Mandir, on October 8, 1992. In January 1995, Mahant Deo Ramdas Vedanti, chela of Harinam Das Vedanti of Janki Ghat, Bara Sthan, was arrested from a hotel in Bhagalpur on charges of kidnapping a minor girl.
Such repetitive and cold-blooded acts as well as the dauntless attitude of the saffron-clad killers are creating a new awareness of the dangerous extent to which the malaise has spread. Lamenting the murder of Sadhu Ram Kripal Das, Baba Gyan Das says: "The VHP and its agitation is responsible for turning the mahants into criminals. Money power and criminals were both introduced by the VHP." If Mahant Nritya Gopal Das is to be believed, the sadhus of Ayodhya are gradually seeing the ugly intentions of such political groups. For, in Ayodhya, saffron has been smeared with bloodstains of the innocent.