In Valsad,missing man who wore white,liked to be called Swamiji

The house has been locked for a few days,said a neighbour. He suggested Bharatbhai may have gone to Mumbai,where his sister lives.

The local police said they were not looking for the man. Valsad SP D B Vaghela said,“There is no case against Bharat Rateshwar in our area. We have only heard that he has been interrogated by the Rajasthan ATS,Maharashtra ATS and CBI.”

Bharatbhai,a Sindhi textile trader with business connections in Ulhasnagar,Thane,first came to Valsad some 12 years ago,neighbours said. He built the bungalow,called Thakorghar,in Mahadevnagar,and began to live with his wife Kavita and two children.

A Swami Vivekanand Sanskar Kendra functioned in the building. Bharatbhai always had guests,and local RSS leaders helped him organise seminars and annual awards functions for social workers,mediapersons and some other people.

According to Aseemanand’s confession made before a Delhi magistrate,a plan to “return bomb attacks with bomb attacks” was discussed in Bharatbhai’s house in June 2006. Besides Bharatbhai and Aseemanand,several arrested and absconding members of radical Hindu organisations were present at the meeting — including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur,Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra.

“We have seen Bharatbhai’s name in newspapers,linking him to several bomb blasts,” said elderly Bipin Patel,a next-door neighbour. “But we have no association with him,and policemen from Rajasthan and Maharashtra who keep dropping by looking for him,harass us.”

Patel claimed the neighbourhood had seen Swami Aseemanand and “several other people” living in the bungalow “before all those blasts happened”. There used to be “many night-time meetings,and many people from many parts of India would be there,” Patel said. “But we never suspected anything until it began coming out in the newspapers.”

Patel said Bharatbhai would collect donations in the name of Swami Vivekanand Sanskar Kendra,but he did not know what happened to the money. Bharatbhai had also started a gaushala behind the house and had kept a few cows,Patel said,but there had been no cows there for the past three years.

“He always dressed in white,and wanted us to call him Swamiji. He set up an ashram school for tribals,but it was shut down soon because he could get no tribal children,” Patel said.

Mahadevnagar Society secretary Mahesh Desai said Bharatbhai had been seen at the house this week. “We saw him there two days ago,he was going out with his wife and daughter in his Santro car. We have also come to know that he is connected to an ayurvedic college in Daman. He used to freelance in Mumbai for an English national daily,and he would invite local media people to his home,” Desai said.

Dharmesh Patel,sarpanch of Mograwadi village,said Bharatbhai would organise “felicitation functions” for social workers and journalists in Valsad “every year”,and would be seen in the company of local politicians whenever elections came around.