You could call it a plot twist in the matter of Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati. Ashutosh Brahmachari Maharaj, the one who filed the complaint, is now putting out that he was strong-armed into it. Whether or not you believe him, it has the potential to complicate an already thorny situation and put a finer point on a hard-fought power struggle.
Complainant alleges pressure and conspiracy
Brahmachari put his side of it in a video, where he says he was cajoled and put in the dark to make his accusations against the Jyotirmath Shankaracharya. He says he can put forward some WhatsApp exchanges and phone recordings from Mahant Ramchandra Das of Deva Ashram in Mathura that show him being told how to go about the filing.
Then there is the matter of the will. Brahmachari has it in for Das, accusing him of muscling in on the Deva Ashram with a doctored document and of hatching a plot to get at his guru, Jagadguru Rambhadracharya. He has been to the senior superintendent of police in Mathura with his grievances and is prepared to go to court if he doesn’t see some movement.
For his part, Das has put out a public denial and is looking to make an example of Brahmachari in the courts, saying the man is a danger to him. They’re both in the orbit of Rambhadracharya – one as his heir apparent, the other as a self-proclaimed 2022 disciple.
What the case is about
Back in January, a complaint was put in alleging that Saraswati and a few others were preying on young ones at religious functions like the 2025 Kumbh Mela and the 2026 Magh Mela. (Saraswati had no time for the accuser, once calling him a history-sheeter.)
The police were told to make a case of it, not just with Saraswati but with Mukundanand Brahmachari of Sheshnath Ashram in Badrinath Dham and a couple of others. The charges are under BNS 351 (3) and a number of POCSO sections: 3, 4 (2), 5, 6, 16 and 17.
They are being looked at for aggravated penetrative assault on a child, which comes with a sentence of anywhere from seven years to life. There’s also the BNS charge of criminal intimidation.
How the courts have been with it
It was Special Judge Vinod Kumar Chaurasia in Prayagraj who, on February 21, put the police to work on an FIR and an independent look-see into the matter.
Fast forward to March 25 and the Allahabad High Court gave Saraswati anticipatory bail. The judge saw some holes in the medicals and pointed out the minors were talking to strangers, not their own. The whole thing, the court noted, came after some hot words at the Magh Mela.
An appeal was turned down by the Supreme Court on May 29, so the 56-year-old is in the clear for the time being.
Where things stand
Brahmachari is mulling over whether to pull back the complaint on Saraswati and will let us know. As for what he has to say about Das, he’ll get to that in due course.
With the probe running and talk of coercion in the air, it all comes down to the evidence and how much stock the authorities put in this U-turn.
A few things to note:
– The word on the street is the case was a sham
– Brahmachari points to some chats and tapes as proof of pressure from Ramchandra Das
– Das has a different story and is after him in the courts
– The top court let the bail stand on May 29
On the record
Brahmachari holds that he was made to be a patsy to go after Saraswati and has the proof to show for it. Das won’t have any of it and is pressing for action. And then you have the seer himself, who has made it plain he doesn’t trust the man, a sign of the fault lines in the community.
