Sadhu's 'Samdihi -Attempt Aborted 1986

Way back in. 1986 when I was posted as Desert Development Commissioner at Jodhpur I was entrusted with an inquiry into an aborted attempt of a Samadhi by a Sadhu who had collected Rs 70 000/ in cash along with carts of food grains.Jan Astha had prevailed over commonsense and law in Village Ghorawat and surroundeding villages in Pipad sub Division of Jodhpur District. 

Strangely enough, Dy.S.P of the area on the scheduled day noticed  a pamphlet flying in the air and then post haste he  contacted District Magistrate Shri TR Verma who rushed to Devi temple hillock in Ghodawat village - 2-3 kms from  Borunda hqs of Folklore Institute set up by legendary Komal Kothari.
 District SP Shri AS Gill away on leave and back same day could  reach the spot late at night whie Shri Verma camped at the hillock temple watching the proceedings and waiting for the Police force reinforcement. 
Hundreds of villagers and passersby  had gathered on the periphery and slopes of the hillock with stones and pebbles spread all over the place. Sadhu was offering Pooja in Devi temple as preparatory to taking Samadhi 4× 2and half feet  rectangular pit hardly big
  enough for the alleged Samadhi. 
Reportedly,Sadhu had dsappeared after midnight but people were not informed of the same..As the night passed into wee hours of the pre- dawn people became restive   eager and anxious at the same time to see the spectale of Sadhu sitting into Samadhi to seek Moksh.
 District SP Gill arrived and managed to meet somehow DM Verma who was waiting for him..As stone pelting gathered momentum small posse of force felt helpless and took shelter in the Kothari adjoining the temple..Mr Gill's turban was probably hit and he took time to fire from a rifle which misfired

As Mr TR Verma  related to me on phone he took out the pistol from the belt of Mr Gill and fired three shots in the air towards  the crowd and the crowd  started dispersing.Finally with the reinforcement  of police force arriving below the hillock the situation was bought  into control. 
Down memory lane ,I can only recall the following  findings in the Enqiry Report:Non-

Non -Patrolling by  meagre Police strength  in Rural Police Station  led to lack of timely information. 
A chance noticing of a flying  leaflet by Dy.SP led to last day desperate  attempt to prevent and manage crowd
_ Meagre available  force tried to seek shelter in temple and obviously  could not face the gathered crowd
_ Dist.SP's late arrival and Sadhu's non - appearance at scheduled time and rumoured  disappearance led to stone pelting
_ DM's presence of mind and firing in the air by pistol  finally controlled the situation 
_ Villagers too realized  that they had lost the game and their money and also the spectacle of securing Moksh by Samadhi 
Conclusion : 
Superstitious rituals and religiosity  have prevailed in modern India even as Science and scientific temper have made significant advance to nullify superstitios claims
Recent Hathras Baba incident have had many precedents  including one narrated above

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