On Thursday night, Pankaj Trivedi, an NRI, was clubbed to death by some men outside the Ellisbridge Gymkhana here. Two years ago, Trivedi had written to Chief Minister Narendra Modi saying there was a threat to his life from the “leadership of Swadhyay Parivar” because he had been exposing their “illegal activities.” And that his letter may be treated as a “dying declaration” in case he was killed.

Swadhyay Parivar is a socio-religious organisation, founded by the late Pandurang Shastri Athavale, winner of the Magsaysay and the Padma Vibhushan.

Trivedi’s letter to Modi, a copy of which was made available to The Sunday Express by one of Trivedi’s family friends, names Jayashree alias Dhanashree Talwalkar, adopted daughter of Pandurang Shastri, who now heads the organisation.

In the letter, Trivedi alleged that in the past, too, “goons have attempted to kill our friends as they (Swadhyay Parivar leaderhip) feared that we would expose them in public, and we are getting regular threat calls from them.”

Trivedi claimed in the letter that a 200-page report on mismanagement of trust property, misuse of earthquake relief funds, and use of Trust property for personal purposes, had been sent to the state government calling for protection to Parivar members who had turned whistleblowers.

Asked about the letter and the report, the Officer on Special Duty in the Chief Minister’s Office said, “This is a very sensitive issue and we would not like to comment.”

Asked if Swadhyay Parivar officials were being investigated, Additional Commissioner of Police P K Jha said there had been no breakthrough so far, nor any reason to question anyone from the Swadhyay Parivar.

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