Bhayyuji shoots himself dead

Bhopal: Model-turned “godman” Bhiayyuji Maharaj, who had many veteran political leaders and Bollywood artists as his followers, on Tuesday allegedly shot himself dead at his residence, Silver Spring, a famous address in Indore city of Madhya Pradesh.

The self-styled spiritual leader shot him in his right temple from a licenced pistol at around 12.15 pm. He was rushed to Bombay Hospital in Indore, where doctors declared him dead.

“His family members rushed to the room where he confined himself after hearing a gunshot. The room was locked from in-side. The family members broke open the door to fi-nd him in a pool of blood. They then rushed him to the hospital,” DIG Hari Narayan Mishra said.

According to him, a pistol and a purported suicide note were recovered in the room where he allegedly committed suicide.

“Somebody should be there to handle duties of family. I am leaving, much stressed out, fed up,” the purported short suicide note read.

Sources said footage  from a CCTV in the city, where he was last seen in public on Monday afternoon, has also been recovered. He reportedly appe-ared pensive during his meeting with a woman, who was yet to be identified.

The spiritual guru was seen sitting with a woman in a local restaurant for about an hour and both left the place in their cars separately.

“We have initiated steps to identify and locate the woman who was with him in the restaurant,” a senior police officer in Indore disclosed this newspaper.

“Prima facie, it appears a case of suicide. But, we are probing all angles,” inspector general of police (law and order) Makrand Deoskar said.

Incidentally, his Facebook and Twitter accounts ran a series of posts on environment and spiritual matters barely a few minutes before he allegedly ended his life.

The police suspects that family discord and property disputes may have driven him to commit suicide.

The Congress, however, gave a new twist to the incident by demanding a CBI probe into it.

“We find it hard to believe that a spiritual leader who used to motivate thousands of his followers with motivational speeches could end his life this way. A CBI probe should be ordered,” a Congress spokesman said.

Bhaiyyuji Maharaj had a couple of months ago spurned the minister of state (MoS) status offered to him along with three four other “sadhus” of MP, saying that “government positions hold no meaning for a sadhu”.

Condolences poured from different parts of the country following his untimely demise.

Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Narendra Singh Tomar and CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan were among those who condoled his death.