Karnataka-origin Lingayat seer Shivacharya Nirvanarudra Pashupatinath Maharaj residing in his ashram in Nagthana in Maharashtra's Nanded district, and his associate Bhagwan Shinde, were murdered on Sunday morning. According to preliminary investigation, robbery was the motive of the crime, the police said. They have arrested the accused.
“The accused had stolen cash, a laptop and other valuables of the seer. He was trying to flee with the seer’s car as well. So here there is a clear cut motive of economic gain. He hails from the same village. He was seen by an ashram security guard when he was leaving in the seer’s car,” District Superintendent of Police Vijaykumar Magar told TNM.
The accused has been identified as Sainath Lingare (25) and has a 10-year-old murder case against his name as well. “He was a juvenile at that time when he was charged for murder. So far there is no communal angle or any rivalry involved as per our investigations. At the time of arrest, Rs 40,000 in cash was recovered from him,” the SP said.
PTI reported that he was held a few hours later from Tanur police station limits within the vicinity along the Telangana state border.
The murder took place around 4 am in Nagthana under Umri police station limits.
"There is a possibility Sainath and Shinde met each other at a Zilla Parishad school some 750 metres away from the ashram where the deceased sadhu stayed. Sainath killed Shinde first, kept his body in a bathroom, and then went to where the sadhu resided, killed him," the SP told PTI.
He kept the body of the sadhu in the car and tried to escape but the vehicle crashed into the gate of the ashram, which woke up residents nearby, the SP said.
"As the residents came out, in the melee, the accused fled on a two-wheeler. The body of the sadhu was found in the car," the SP said.
He said evidence of substance abuse by the accused has also been found near the ZP school.
It may be recalled that Maharashtra had made news after two seers and their associates were killed in Palghar. Investigations in that case too found no communal angle.