In Ayodhya, the death of the sadhu was spread with incorrect details.

At present, many types of viral posts can be seen on social forums related to sadhus. Soon after the killing of two sadhus in Palghar, Maharashtra, followed by the incident involving 2 sadhus in Bulandshahar,Uttar Pradesh there is a lot of discussion around these incidents in the country. The picture of a dead sadhu is being shared on social media with the claim that the picture is from Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, where a sadhu died due to starvation. It is also being claimed that the body of this dead sadhu was callously thrown in water by the Ayodhya police without performing last rites. 

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We started the investigation by contacting the SSP of Ayodhya, Ashish Tiwari. He told us that “The statement on social media related to the death of this sadhu is false. The 80-year-old sadhu, seen in the picture, died of natural causes. He had been unwell since a few days, due to which he died. The Sadhus of the Sadhu Samaj performed last rites in accordance with the Sadhu tradition. They refused to perform a postmortem of his body, which they have submitted to us in writing. Sadhus of Sadhu Samaj have lodged a complaint letter against those who spread false news on social media in Ayodhya Kotwali and confirmed that there was inconvenience due to food and water.”

He told us that “In this incident, we received two statements written on plain paper late night. This is how we first came to know the name of the deceased sadhu Vishnu Das, aged 80 years. It is also clearly written in this statement that the sadhus have no problem of food. The death was due to natural reasons, so the body was not sent for post mortem. On the statement given, it is clearly written that the Sadhu Samaj has immersed the dead body in flowing water according to the Sadhu rituals.” Photographs of the statement given by the Sadhus with some videos and pictures were received by us, which you can see below.

Sadhus of the Sadhu Samaj have given the explanation on this incident through a video, which you can see below.

Fact Crescendo contacted the Kotwali police of Ayodhya. They told us that “Claims on social media are absolutely false.” A case has been filed against three people for spreading this rumor. Tufail, who is the operator of five news portals,  Dilip Morya who is a news reporter, third is Indian Times News.  A case has been filed against them under section 310/20 IPC Section 188 and 505 (2), Section 54 under the Disaster Mangement Act. The 80-year-old sadhu/monk died of natural causes. This complaint has been lodged by Sukhdev Giri, a disciple of the late Shri Manhunt Prem Giri. “

Ayodhya Police has given an explanation of this incident through its official Twitter account. The police has mentioned in the tweet that “On the basis of statement received by the sadhus against the fake news related to the cause of death of the deceased Sadhu, under the jurisdiction of the police station in Ayodhya, the police registered a case at the local police station under sections 310/20. 

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Conclusion: We found the above post wrong after checking the facts. The claims made while sharing the picture of this dead sadhu on social media are false. He died of natural causes and not as a result of starvation as mentioned in the claim. The Ayodhya Police did not throw his body in the water, but it was immersed in water according to the rituals of the Sadhu Samaj. A complaint has been filed against three persons for spreading false news on social media.