Laptops not mantras were Dayanand’s pastime

Pandey was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in connection with the Malegaon blast on November 12,2008. He had floated a charitable trust,Kashyapmeru Shankaracharya Amritanand Vedic Vishav Kalyan Trust,with its official address as the house of a CA in Trikuta Nagar here.

Pandey was also among the religious leaders who had participated in the two-month-long Amarnath agitation. He visited the Valley and stayed at a number of places,including Shankaracharya temples.

Two months after his arrest by the Mumbai ATS,while the Sangh Parivar may be smelling conspiracy,those who brought him to the state from Delhi and introduced him to people here in 2003,said they found his behaviour unbecoming of a religious leader. They claimed Pandey was never seen performing any puja.

He was the first person to have a Nokia 7250 colour mobile phone in Jammu city,recalls Anan Sharma of Kranti Dal,who was at that time heading one of the Shiv Sena factions in the state. His brother-in-law Anup Koul,a mechanical engineer,had brought Pandey to Jammu for the first time. Pandey had brought with him two-three laptops and used to always carry a video camera to shoot pictures of the places and programmes he visited and attended.

“We invited him to a shradhanjali samaroh at Durga Nagar. Instead of performing the havan,he sat with the gathering and did not chant even a single mantra. Later,he argued for his dakshina. Though we paid him the amount demanded,we also expressed our resentment,” recalled H L Chatta,a prominent leader of the Jammu Kashmir Kashmiri

Pandit Conference.

In 2003,Pandey had visited the office of Kashmiri Pandit Samiti in South Delhi and met its leaders. To prove his credentials,he had shown them a citation issued by Dharam Mandal,Varanasi,declaring him Shankaracharaya of Shardapeeth. The Samiti leaders were convinced,as he had told them that he would work towards the protection and renovation of their religious shrines,which were in dilapidated condition in the militancy-hit Valley. At Jammu,he first stayed at Geeta Bhawan in Muthi camp,an area inhabited by Kashmiri Pandits. Half a dozen acharyas,carrying a silver throne,a chhattar (umbrella) and a crystal lingam accompanied him. In fact,the silver throne and umbrella were carried by the acharyas wherever he went. Besides,he also had police escort,provided by the Mufti government.

However,in 2005 after Ghulam Nabi Azad took over as the chief minister,Pandey was denied police escort,said T N Tickoo,a Kashmiri Pandit migrant who had sent a number of fax to the police periodically for Pandey’s security cover.

What assumes significance is that Pandey emerged in the state immediately after Indresh Kumar,a RSS leader,left the state. “Initially,we were not convinced,but he showed us the “Shankaracharya” certificate and moreover,there was nothing against him. He used to talk about preserving religious shrines in the Valley and also unity among Hindus,” said R L Bhat of Sanjeevani Sharda Kendra.

After staying in Jammu for a few days,he left for the Valley. Anup Koul and Anan Sharma accompanied him to Durga Nag temple on July 12,2003. “It was the inauguration of our newly built yatri bhawan. The then deputy CM Mangat Ram Sharma and National Conference president Omar Abdullah were among those present on the occasion,” said P N Taku,a trustee of the temple.

Pandey stayed at the yatri bhawan for three days,but left following an altercation with the management. Thereafter,he went to Shankaracharya temple and there too,he could not stay for more than two days following a tiff with the people there. “He wanted to capture all Hindu shrines in the Valley,” Taku alleged,adding that he finally returned to Jammu as no one in the Valley was prepared to provide him a place to stay.

He stayed at Katra and whenever he visited Jammu,he used to emphasise on raising donations to carry on a fight against the alleged discrimination against Hindus. However,his appeals met with poor response,said Anan Sharma.

Kashmiri Pandits finally gave him a room at their dharamshala in Hardwar in Uttarakhand in 2005. There too,he could not stay for more than a few months,as the Hardwar Welfare Society Trust,managing the dharamshala,evicted him on charges of trying to grab the property.

“While sending him to Hardwar from Jammu,we had given him some money for the renovation of the dharamshala. He tried to capture the entire dharamshala by floating his own organisation,” alleged H L Chatta,who was then the general secretary of the Trust. “We had to lodge a complaint against him with the UP police,” he added.