Kerala government plans to probe wealth of godmen from all religious communities

• The Kerala government plans to hold a detailed inter-departmental inquiry into the wealth of the godmen from all religious communities in Kerala.


• The inquiry is likely to be carried out by the revenue and the registration departments. The move comes at a time when the state police intelligence department has already begun a probe into the activities of these godmen. The first saffron-robed man to hit the headlines was Santhosh Madhavan alias Swami Amritachaithanya, arrested May 13 and charged with the rape of a teenage girl and possession of 'ganja' (marijuana). A tiger skin and a large number of pornographic films were also recovered from his house in Kochi.The second godman, whose threats to shoot himself inside a police station in Aluva were beamed across television sets Saturday, is Himaval Maheswara Bhadranandaji, popularly known as 'Ernakulam Swami'.He was taken to the police station after he threatened suicide. And in full view of the media, Bhadranandaji, with a pistol at his forehead, hurled abuses at the media for alleged negative publicity.When police officials tried to stop him, the gun went off and a bullet whizzed past a reporter.