Mathura, 2015.10.02 (Amar Ujala): In the sensational case (see previous story) kidnapping and extortion of Vrindavan sant and social worker, Swami Govindanand Tirth, who was kidnapped in 2012, the Additional Sessions Court (6), all eleven of the accused have been sentenced to life imprisonment and been fined of Rs 15000 each. Only one of the accused was given a lesser sentence of two years.
Govindanand Tirtha was kidnapped in January 2012 in Vrindavan by his driver Heera, his wife Vijaya alias Kalla, and four or five other conspirators with the purpose of extorting money from him. The gang also made off with the ashram’s Thakurji, 40 tolas of gold jewelery, nine and a half kilos of silver, and Rs 8 lakhs in cash. The thieves then took the Swami into the Bhind and Morena jungle to extort more money from him.
They had him phone a disciple in Kolkata and tell him to deposit Rs 60 lakh in his personal account . Then they had him write checks in the name of one Mayabai. This money was then transferred to various individual accounts. Swami Govindanand Tirtha filed the report on the incident report on 31 January 2012 at the Vrindavan police station. Subsequently, the Police was able to recover 33 lakhs in cash and the temple silverware.
Additional government advocate Ishwar Chandra Sharma and senior prosecutor Ashok Kaushik said said that Additional Sessions Judge Brajendra Mani Tripathi sentenced Heera, his wife Vijaya, Vinod, Rattan Singh, Shri Mahi Pal, Jayant, Mukesh, Prem Singh, Gopal, Shyamvir and Mayabai were all given life sentences. Adl Singh was sentenced to two years
The accused had their own daughter murdered in order to implicate the Mahanta
In another horrifying twist to this story, it was revealed that Heera and his wife were behind the murder of their own daughter in order to deflect charges away from themselves and to sully Govindananda Tirtha’s reputation in the aftermath of the kidnapping.
First they lodged an accusation of rape against him on July 15, 2013.
As a part of their investigation, the police asked Vijaya and her teenage daughter, the purported victim of the rape, to testify at the final hearing in the Vrindavan court on February 6, 2014. But as two women made their way to the courthouse, they were attacked by a group of men in a car, who shot the girl and killed her and severely injured the mother.
The girl’s parents then filed charges against Govindananda Tirtha and his disciples Vairagya Svarup and Narendra Shrivastav, accusing them of the murder.
After investigation, however, the actual culprits were caught by the Police, and it was found that the mother had in fact paid them Rs. two lakhs to carry out the murder. This case is still pending in another Sessions Court.
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