“My son belonged to the Almighty and the Almighty has taken him away. I take it as my destiny. I am not interested in any probe, or even post-mortem. I don’t want to register any complaint against the ashram and I am sure it’s a conspiracy against the ashram and Bapuji. The ashram has treated my son very well. Even my daughter Vedanti is here and I am not going to take her back to Pune. And if I were to have the third child, I would have kept him or her here only.”

When Pooja Manmode was talking to mediapersons at the District Hospital in Chhindwara, where her son’s body was kept in the mortuary, she was aggressive, determined and composed—not a picture one would associate with a mother who lost her son less than 24 hours ago. Her five-year-old son Vedant was found dead under mysterious circumstances in Asaram Bapu’s gurukul, a day after another boy, Ramakrishna Yadav, was also found dead in a bathroom.

Last month, two boys of another gurukul of the same sect was found dead in Gujarat, sparking widespread protests in the state.

Her husband Krishna agreed with her. “Bapuji hasn’t even killed an ant in his life,” he said. And while giving a clean chit to the ashram, Pooja wanted a probe into the conspiracy against the ashram. Four-year-old Ramakrishna Yadav’s father Mohanlal, an advocate, too, have stood by the ashram.

But unlike the Manmodes and the Yadavs, many other parents think their children are not safe in the ashram. On Friday, scores of them took their wards away. “I called up the gurukul last evening after the news of the two deaths. I wanted to talk to my son, but they refused to let him come on the phone. I was worried, and angry too. So, I am taking him away,” said Rajendra Singh Raghuwanshi from Thakmora village. His son Rajat studies in eighth standard in the school.

... contd.