Shastri, the Mahant of Saryu Kunj temple which is adjacent to the disputed Ram temple in Ayodhya, chaired a meeting of more than 500 Sahdus and Mahants on Saturday in the temple premises. “A memorandum signed by 100 Sadhus, has been dispatched to the Chief Minister’s office demanding immediate arrest of Vedanti for conspiring to create communal violence in Ayodhya and adjoining areas,” Shastri told The Indian Express.

On August 30, Vedanti had lodged a complaint with the Ayodhya Police alleging that he had been receiving death threats from the Al-Qaeda and SIMI. The district administration immediately provided a security cover and deployed additional men to his X-category security.

Following the complaint the police swung into action and Vedanti’s mobile phone was brought under electronic surveillance to track down the callers. Soon after, the police arrested Ramesh Tiwari, Bajrang Dal’s city president in Katra and Pawan Pandey, a local convener of Hindu Yuva Vahini from Katra in Gonda district.

“Vedanti has conspired with two of the local leaders of Bajrang Dal and Hindu Yuva Vahini to pose as Al- Qaiyeda and SIMI activists. In fact Vedanti had a plan to disrupt the communal harmony and to create a riot type of situation that would help the BJP to prepare their grounds for the coming Lok Sabha elections,” said Shastri. Vedanti would contest the elections as a BJP candidate from Gonda.

According to the police, during interrogation Pandey said “my Guruji was not getting Z-category security as enjoyed by VHP leaders like Ashok Singhal and Praveen Togadia, so we took the step after Guruji gave us the consent”.

“After we arrested the duo Vedanti told us that he knew them and requested us not to take any legal action against them. So we released them,” Superintendent of Police Gyaneshwar Tiwari said.