Priest hangs himself at ashram in UP’s Barabanki

Barabanki(UP): A seer, part of Prayagraj-based akhara, allegedly hanged himself in a room of an ashram here, police said on Friday.

The incident took place in Panchghara locality of Kotwali Fatehpur area on Thursday, they said.

The sadhu, Ramdas (50), had come here to participate in a satsang (discourse).

He was found hanging in the room of the ashram on Thursday and a suicide note has also been recovered from the spot, police said.

A group of 50 seers of Panchayat Udasin Bada Akhara had come here from Prayagraj and Haridwar on December 27 and Ramdas, who hailed from Punjab, was staying in a room of the ashram, police said.

When the door of the room did not open, people peeped through the window and found his body hanging.

The police reached the spot and got the door opened and also recovered a suicide note lying nearby in which it had been written that “the loved ones have betrayed me and I myself am responsible for the suicide.” Circle Officer (CO) Raghuveer Singh sent the body for postmortem after taking statements of the seers present in the ashram.

Police said they are looking for the person who might have drove seer Ramdas to take the extreme step.

During interrogation, some seers told police that Vimal, an aide of Ramdas, had taken away Rs 2 lakh from the akhara’s funds. It is said that Vimal had also apologized for this over the phone. Ramdas was also the treasurer of his ‘sangat’.

Police are trying to interrogate Vimal, they added.

Suicide is preventable. If you get any such thoughts, consult or seek expert help.

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