Bobbitised 'sadhu' had Sangh links

Srihari

TT, May 21: The self-styled sadhu, who lost his male organ after a young law student decided she had enough of his sexual assaults, was an active member of the Hindu Aikyavedi, a Sangh parivar outfit in Kerala.

State BJP president Kummanam Rajashekaran, who was earlier general secretary of the outfit, said he "knew" Srihari alias Gangeshananda Theerthapada Swami but denied he was a close associate.

"I knew him, but I also know several other swamis," Rajashekaran told reporters today. "The police must carry out its job and conduct a thorough investigation."

Police sources said there was nothing to suggest that Srihari was still linked to the organisation, and the last time he was seen at an Aikyavedi event was about two years ago.

The controversy has come at a time the BJP leadership has set its sights on widening its base in the southern state, where the party has been a negligible presence till now.

Rajashekaran's comments came on a day a court in the Kerala capital remanded the bobbitised 54-year-old in custody till June 3, clearing the way for police to question Srihari in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College and Hospital, where he is admitted.

It means Srihari would be shifted to an isolated cell under police watch. Police sources said they would wait for clearance from doctors to question him.

Srihari, also known as Hari Swami, has been booked for rape after the 23-year-old law student, who endured repeated sexual assaults by the man, cut off his genitals on Friday night.

He has been booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso), too, considering that the sexual assaults had started when she was a minor.

The woman's family had rushed the profusely bleeding Srihari to the hospital around midnight on Friday. A hospital bulletin had said the man's penis couldn't be reattached, as it had been 90 per cent severed. But Srihari was otherwise stable, hospital sources said.

The law student's parents have also accused Srihari of swindling about Rs 40 lakh out of them. Sources said the ongoing investigation would cover this allegation too.

Police sources said the woman's mother could be questioned in a day or two. The law student had told the police her mother knew of the sexual harassment that had been going on for years but did nothing.

It has now emerged that her family had great faith in the man who was treated with respect when they hosted him whenever he visited the Kerala capital. He had free access to their modest home where he even conducted pujas for the woman's ailing father.

The police have shifted the student to a secret location and clarified that she had not been booked for attacking Srihari. City police commissioner G. Sparjan Kumar yesterday said no case had been registered against her because she had acted in self-defence.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had hailed the student, saying it was a "brave act".

Sources said Srihari used to run a small eatery in his native Kolenchery in Ernakulam district before financial losses led him towards spiritualism and to the Panmana Ashram in Kollam district, where he had enrolled for a course some 15 years ago.

The ashram's authorities have, however, clarified that he didn't complete the course and left without getting ordained into the order of Theerthapada swamis of the ashram. It was not immediately known how he assumed a name that suggested he was a sadhu.

The student's parents are devotees of the ashram, in honour of the 19th century social reformer, Chattambi Swami. It is also not clear yet if the family first met the self-styled sadhu at the ashram.

Police have established that Srihari used to live with the family during an agitation about 10 years ago in Thiruvananthapuram by followers of Chattambi Swami.

He was also part of protests against an airport project in Pathanamthitta district and the Kerala government's bid to bring Hindu temples in northern Kerala under state control.

Unlike temples in south Kerala, families or trusts run temples in north Kerala.