RAIPUR: Self-styled ‘yoga guru’ who returned from Goa a few months ago to establish a sprawling Ashram in Chhattisgarh’s Dongargarh in Rajnandgaon district was arrested and remanded to judicial custody for allegedly engaging in a network of drugs and immoral activity in the garb of his spiritual retreat centre.
Born and brought up in Dongargarh, about 120 km west of Raipur, Kanti Agarwal alias Yogi Baba has promoted himself as a spiritual guru in Goa and abroad. He left his hometown Dongargarh some two decades ago.
The 'yoga guru' claimed to have visited several countries, and for a decade he was operating a Yoga Ashram, which was like a resort in Goa. He shifted to Dongargarh to set up a similar Ashram in a 39-acre farmhouse which was under construction for the last few months. On the basis of intelligence inputs and few complaints, the police raided the farmhouse and seized nearly 1.9 kg of cannabis, sex toys, illegal drugs and other objectionable things.
During police interrogation he revealed that the lease for his Goa Ashram was over and so returned to replicate the same practice by creating another Ashram at his home town. He boasts of having visited around 100 countries and projected himself as an eminent yoga guru among his disciples and foreign tourists, the police said.
“He was reportedly involved in some criminal activities in Goa and we are exploring it. We have been in touch with Goa police to check his antecedents. We are examining the record of his land where the Ashram is coming up. He claimed himself as a director for nearly a dozen NGOs and was also receiving grants from abroad. He is believed to have a good customer base among the foreigners”, Mohit Garg, Rajnandgaon district police chief told this newspaper.
The ‘yoga guru’ has been arrested under the narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances (NDPS) Act Section 20 after marijuana was seized from the Ashram and sent to jail under the judicial remand.
The police got complaints and intelligence inputs that minors and youths visited his place in the guise of attending peace and meditation training at the farmhouse where they reportedly got engaged in anti-social activities and consumed drugs. After the police raid and the recoveries, yoga teacher Kanti Agarwal was arrested.
“We are carrying out our extensive probe into his roles and involvement in NGOs, his foreign connections and trying to find out his property source”, said Garg, the SP.
It was in the initial stage, before he could launch his full-fledged Ashram, the police took swift action. He returned to Dongargarh 3 months back, the police said. Locals informed that he received education till Class12.