HC directs Punjab govt to conduct last rites of Ashutosh Maharaj

Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday asked authorities to conduct the last rites of Ashutosh Maharaj in 15 days. Ashutosh Maharaj, the sect leader of Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan at Nurmahal in Jalandhar, had been declared clinically dead on January 29.

The honourable High Court also ordered the formation of a committee of senior officers — that would include officers in the rank of home secretary and chief secretary — to overlook law and order during the process.

After Ashutosh Maharajwas declared clinically dead, his disciples had placed the dead body in a deep freezer claiming he had gone into 'samadhi' or deep meditative state.

A petition had been filed in the case by one - Dilip Kumar Jha - who claimed to be Ashutosh Majharaj alias Mahesh Kumar Jha's son and sought the "mortal remains" for performing last rites.

A second petition in the case had been filed by Ashutosh Maharaj's driver - Puran Singh – demanding a CBI probe to ascertain the cause of his former employee's death.

The sect has properties and assets running into hundreds of crores and there are reports that the mystery of Ashutosh Maharaj's death is related to the control of these properties.