Mathura godman’s treasure-hunt becomes ASI’s nightmare

On September 21, Jitendra Kumar, director of the Mathura Museum got information that Jai Gurudev’s men were demolishing the last mound under survey. Kumar immediately alerted the ASI office, but the damage had already been done.

Kumar explains: “Chauvara mound has around 14 tilas where the ASI has been carrying on survey work. Now between digging for idols and constructing his Taj Mahal lookalike mandir, all the tilas have been destroyed. The ASI is planning to take some action now.”

The ASI complaint is the latest in a series of cases pending before the court in Mathura. From the UPSIDC to the farmers, everybody is complaining about the baba and his “land-grabbing tactics”.

There are 16 cases that the UPSIDC has filed in Mathura court. The district magistrate received 23 complaints from farmers, all alleging that their land had been taken over forcefully by the baba.

According to the last SDM report, Baba Jai Gurudev’s ashram is spread over 33 hectares, off which more than 13 hectares does not belong to him. Of this encroached land, 11 hectares belongs to the UPSIDC and the rest to the gram samaj.

“We keep getting complaints off and on,” admits District Magistrate Sanjeev Mittal. “We take action accordingly. The problem is that there is a little confusion regarding the gram samaj land and its boundaries. Also a lot of litigation is on and in these cases we cannot take any action. But otherwise, we promptly deal with complaints.”

The cases may be closed for the district administration, but for the villagers and industrialists it is not an open-and-shut case. “I have a huge plot on the highway,” says Jaipal Singh. “But today I am forced to sell tea on the roadside. I wanted to build shops, now I just have a shack. Thanks to Jai Gurudev, my investment has come a cropper.”

Members of the Industrial Association in Mathura have been fighting the baba for years. Secretary of the association Umesh Khandelwal says: “The land-grabbing has been going on since the late ’70s and today, large tracts of land acquired for setting up industries are being used for farming. The baba grows rice for his followers on land that belongs to industrialists and is constructing an ashram on land belonging to farmers.”

The baba on his part denies everything. Before speeding off in his car to do a round of his property, he says: “I don’t do anything illegal. Everything I do is legitimate. Cases are on, but I will eventually win. I have bought everything from the donations I get. All the allegations are just a conspiracy.”

But the farmers and industrialists are tired of being landless in Mathura. “This time we are going to take this to the end,” they say.