Kerala ‘samadhi’ mystery close to being solved as self-styled guru’s body is exhumed

On Wednesday, the Kerala High Court rejected the plea of Gopan’s family, which challenged the police move to recover the body from the chamber for postmortem as local residents had raised doubts about his sudden disappearance.

The high court summarily rejected the petition as the family could not produce a death certificate. Besides, the family could not convince the court how Gopan, 69, died. Initially, the police registered only a man-missing case.

The family of the headload worker-turned-spiritual guru claimed that he attained samadhi on Thursday and his body was lowered into a samadhi peedam (seat). (Express Photo)

The family of the headload worker-turned-spiritual guru claimed that he attained samadhi—believed to be a state of meditative consciousness— on Thursday and his body was lowered into a samadhi peedam (seat), which Gopan himself had constructed about five years ago. They did not inform anyone about the death of Gopan, who had been allegedly indisposed. However, on Saturday, the family put up banners in the region claiming that Gopan Swami had attained samadhi, which created doubts in the minds of the local residents, who alerted the police.

Gopan’s son Sanandan then said, “He was against placing the body for public homage as such a step would hinder his journey to God. He had constructed a crypt five years ago. Three days before he attained samadhi, my father predicted about it. On Thursday, around 10.30 am, after the daily rituals at our family temple, he walked into the tomb. We performed pujas and rituals, which lasted the entire day. Early Friday morning, the tomb was covered with a Krishna shila, marking the end of the rituals.”

On Monday, when the police began a probe and wanted to exhume the body from the chamber, which was erected near a family temple, Gopan’s wife Sulochanan and sons Rajasenan and Sanandan put up a strong opposition.

The family, which belongs to the Hindu Nadar community, also tried to bring various Hindu organisations into the picture, claiming that the police action was meant to insult the Hindu faith. However, the Kerala High Court intervention paved the way for exhuming the body.