According to a police spokesman, the CBI team picked up assistant kothari (manager) Shreejicharan Swami, Vidyanagar Hostel kothari Madhavpratap Swami, and bhagat Chimanbhai Dayabhai from Vadtal on March 29. Gyanprakash Swami, kothari of the Swaminarayan temple at Mumbai, had been detained by the CBI previously, the spokesman added.

While District Superintendent of Police B D Vaghela told Express Newsline on Thursday that the CBI team comprised officials from Ahmedabad and Mumbai, he claimed not to have details of the case. Official sources, however, said that the CBI personnel seized some cartridges and documents related to trust elections from various premises, including the main Swaminarayan temple at Vadtal.

A priest at the temple, who did not want to be named, corroborated this.Gadadharnandji, chairman of the Vadtal-based Swaminarayan Temple Trust -- responsible for more than 40 temples all over the country and the appointments and transfers of more than 500 priests and managers -- was reportedly kidnapped in Vadtal on March 9, 1998. The white car used in the abduction was later abandoned for another car, and both cars were subsequently destroyed.

It was alleged that the missing saint was kidnapped in connection with some transfers, in at least one of which big money apparently played role.

The incident rocked the State, with a large number of Gujarati devotees and followers of the sect staging protests and demanding the arrest of the accused. Accusing the district police of lethargy, a devotee, one Jatinbhai, moved Gujarat High Court in September, following which the case was handed over to CBI.

When contacted, priest Kapil, in-charge of the Swaminarayan temple at Surat and a nephew of Gadadharnandji, was all praise for the CBI. Expressing hope that the case would be solved soon, he said, ``I do not know who did what to my uncle. I can only say he was a truly religious person with high morals.''