A 50-year-old hermit, Sant Premdas of Guniya Mahadev temple Ashram under Diwer police station area of Rajsamand, Rajasthan, committed suicide by hanging himself from a tree on Sunday. Before taking away his life, he recorded a five-minute video message to the administration regarding the allegations of rape levelled against him.
A few days ago, a woman had approached Rajsamand SP Bhuvan Bhushan Yadav and accused Sant Premadas of raping her. A case was registered against the Sadhu and the investigation was underway. According to woman, she and her husband had gone to the Sant’s ashram on April 20 and May 20 to seek treatment for stomach ailments. The woman said that the hermit gave her something to drink which made her drowsy and he subsequently raped her.
The police went to the ashram to investigate the matter, but they did not find the Sant there. A caretaker called Chhaganlal Suthar was directed by the police to inform them in case the Sant returns. However, when Suthar reached the ashram on Monday, he saw the hermit’s body hanging from a tree in the ashram premises. The police were immediately called and the body of the Sant was shifted to a morgue in the Devgarh Hospital. The Sant’s family, which stays in Gwalior, has been informed about his death.
Sant accuses the couple of blackmailing
The hermit in his video message, which has now gone viral, claimed that he was deeply anguished by the allegations of rape levelled against him and accused the woman and her husband, a member of women commission, and 3 other men of blackmailing him for an amount of Rs 15 lakhs. Claiming himself to be innocent, Sant Premdas said that he is taking the extreme step of giving up his life to save his honour and self-respect.
Superintendent of Police Bhuvan Bhushan Yadav assured that necessary action will be taken against the culprits after checking the veracity of the claims made in the video.
