Ashutosh Brahmachari Maharaj is the latest name to join the ongoing controversy surrounding Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, which began with the seer attacking the Prayagraj administration and Yogi Adityanath government for allegedly not letting him take a dip in the Sangam during Magh Mela last month.
It was on a petition filed by Ashutosh Maharaj that a Prayagraj court last Saturday ordered the police to register a case of sexual assault under the stringent POCSO Act against 56-year-old Swami Saraswati and others. Ashutosh Maharaj has claimed that he possesses evidence of sexual exploitation of minor disciples.
Swami Saraswati, on the other hand, has said that Ashutosh Maharaj is a history-sheeter.
Sources in the police said several criminal cases, including those under the Goonda Act, have been filed in the past against Ashutosh Maharaj at several places in west UP.
Ashutosh Maharaj, however, denied the charges, calling them false cases lodged by his enemies. When asked about the status of the cases against Ashutosh Maharaj, a senior police officer in Shamli refused to comment.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Ashutosh Maharaj, who is in his mid-40s, admitted that his historysheet was opened at Kandhla police station in Shamli, but claimed that he has been exonerated in all the cases.
“I have been exonerated from all charges… My historysheet was opened at Kandhla police station in Shamli during the Akhilesh Yadav government to suppress me and my movements for safeguarding Sanatan Dharma,” Ashutosh Maharaj told The Indian Express.
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Accusing the Swami Saraswati camp of levelling false claims about him on social media, Ashutosh Maharaj said, “The accused (Swami Saraswati) are posting misleading, fake, and defamatory posts about my fake criminal history with a fake stamp of Kandhla police station showing me as a hoodlum and professional historysheeter.”
He also claimed threat to his life, and alleged that on February 18, five men attacked his vehicle on the Delhi-Shamli Road.
“They pelted stones at the vehicle … They threatened me to withdraw the case or I would not be able to enter Shamli,” Ashutosh Maharaj alleged, adding that he has lodged an FIR in connection with the incident.
Ashutosh, who says he became a disciple of Swami Rambhadracharya in 2022, was known as Ashutosh Pandey earlier.
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“We are pandas of Shakumbhari Devi temple in Saharanpur. The panda title attached with my name turned to Pandey,” he said, adding that his father, Rajendra Kumar worked in Delhi.
Ashutosh Maharaj claims to also be a litigant in the Shri Krishnajanmabhoomi-Shahi Eidgah dispute case and the chairman of Shri Krishnajanmabhoomi Mukti Nirman Trust.
Last Sunday, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav publicly said that he had committed a mistake by withdrawing a cheating case against Rambhadracharya when he was the chief minister of the state between 2012 and 2017.
“I should have sent him (Rambhadracharya) to jail,” Akhilesh had said as he hit out at the BJP government in the state for “hounding” Swami Saraswati with “cheap and false cases”.
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The Prayagraj Police, which is yet to arrest Swami Saraswati, has said that an investigation has been initiated in the POCSO case. Swami Saraswati on Tuesday moved the Allahabad High Court for anticipatory bail.
‘Whatever probe police are doing is reaching Ashutosh’: Swami Saraswati
Varanasi: Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati on Wednesday alleged that criminals rule in Uttar Pradesh, level allegations and influence investigations, as he denied having any contact with the two persons for whose alleged sexual abuse he has been booked.
Addressing reporters here, the seer displayed a purported WhatsApp group on his phone that he alleged has been created by a man named Ashutosh Pandey and in which information related to the case against him is being shared.
“Whatever investigation the police are conducting is reaching Ashutosh Pandey. What kind of probe is this?” he asked.
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Showing a purported screenshot from the group, the seer claimed that a message stated that Pandey assisted in the collection of evidence during the investigation and remained with the probe team for three days. On claims that a photo of Pandey with an IPS officer posted in Prayagraj was AI-generated, he said the same picture was posted in the WhatsApp group with a birthday greeting and had also been uploaded on Facebook. PTI
