In a shocking incident, three junior swamis of the Chouli Mutt on the outskirts of Bidar city commited suicide by self-immolation in the wee hours of Monday. One of them was a teenager.
The deceased swamis have been identified as Jagannatha Swamy(22), Pranab (17) and Eerareddy (50).
While Eerareddy and Jagannatha Swamy were natives of Andhra Pradesh, Pranab was the son of Rajkumar Chondi of Chouli village. All the three were residing in the Chouli Mutt - with two others - for the last few years.
Sources in the mutt said Jagannatha Swamy had left a suicide note in the mutt. The note said that the senior pontiff of the mutt Ganeshwar Avadhoota Swami took Samadhi by immolating himself on February 28 and that all the three of them were still in shock.
It further said that the trio have decided to join their Guru by attaining Moksha by self-immolation.
They lit a fire to a heap of firewood - which was stored in the mutt for mass feeding on Ugadi - at 4.00 am and jumped into the fire.
The other two junior swamjis who were sleeping outside the mutt, saw the fire and informed the police. A police force had been stationed outside the mutt since the senior pontiff’s death in February. Fire safety personnel were summoned but by the time bodies were recovered they were completely charred. Many religious leaders called the swamis’ decision to immolate themselves as a way to attain Moksha “illogical”.