Haridwar: Amid allegations that Swami Nigamanand was poisoned, authorities on Thursday took fresh sample for a second viscera test of the seer who died after a four-month fast against quarrying in Ganga river bed.
A panel of doctors took a second viscera sample of Nigamanand at Matri Sadan ashram where his body was kept following a direction by Haridwar district magistrate R Meenakshisundaram. The founder head of the ashram and his guru Swami Shivanand had given a written request to the district administration in this regard, officials said.
Uttarakhand Government had on Wednesday recommended a CBI probe into the circumstances of Nigamanand`s death. Shivanand had alleged that the 36-year-old seer died of poisoning after he was administered a lethal injection at the behest of quarrying mafia.
With a fresh sample being taken, Nigamanand was given a "bhu samadhi" (religious burial) at the ashram premises in Haridwar in the presence of several leaders from both the ruling BJP and opposition Congress, besides sadhus.
"Swami Nigamanand has been given `bhu samadhi` as per the traditions of Matri Sadan," said Meenakashisundaram.
Union minister of state for agriculture Harish Rawat, Congress MLA Kishor Upadhyay, state urban development minister Madan Kaushik and heads of several religious ashrams were among those present.
Earlier, family members of Nigamanand, who reached the ashram, sought custody of the body for the last rites and threatened to undertake an indefinite hunger strike but were turned down by the ashram authorities, prompting the district administration to intervene.
Meenakshisundaram decided in favour of ashram giving it the right to give burial to the seer after taking legal opinion and holding discussion with the sadhus of the ashram as well as his family members.
PTI