Agencies/Bidar, Karnataka
Three followers of a religious leader committed suicide yesterday by jumping on a burning wood pyre, saying they wanted to “join” their leader who killed himself over a month ago, police said.
The three men, all priests, aged 16, 30 and 50, lived at the Chouli monastery near Bidar dedicated to the worship of Lord Shiva.
The priests wrote in a suicide note that they were “leaving the world to join their guru Gyaneshwar”, who monastery residents said killed himself at the end of February, deputy superintendent of police Vijayanath Jyothi said.
“Our guru is not here. There is no meaning in living anymore. We are voluntarily going to our god in heaven,” read a note written before Jagannath Swami, Pranav Swami and Veera Reddy Swami jumped into “a heap of firewood they lit after midnight,” Jyothi said.
The deaths came as another religious leader at the monastery, 670km from Bangalore, remains missing after being reported kidnapped in early March, police said.
“Monastery inmates say the Gyaneshwar, the senior guru, decided to end life on February 28 due to some unhealthy developments in his religious organisation,” another senior local police officer Pandit Sagar said.
Gyaneshwar, 58, was believed to be worried about “attempts by real estate agents to usurp the monastery’s property in connivance with some monastery disciples who wanted a share of the deal,” Sagar said.
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