KOCHI : Self-styled godman Santhosh Madhavan alias Swami Amritha Chaithanya passed away following heart ailments at a private hospital in Kochi on Wednesday. He had undergone angioplasty a few years back. He was rushed to a private hospital in Kaloor on March 1 following chest pain. Later, his relatives shifted him to another hospital in Kochi on Tuesday night. He breathed his last on Wednesday morning. He was residing at Kadavanthra. Santhosh’s life was no short of controversies as he was involved in multiple cheating cases and was convicted of raping two minors in 2009. Kattapana native Santhosh was a tenth-standard dropout and started as an assistant to his brother who was a priest at a temple in Kochi.
Later, he started practising rituals at a temple in Aluva. After a few years, he went missing from Aluva and returned 3 years later. He visited multiple countries and maintained close relations with politicians, police officers and celebrities in film industry. He owned multiple properties in Kochi and nearby areas. In 2009, Interpol issued a lookout notice against him for cheating an NRI. The last time, Santhosh came to the limelight was in 2016 after Vigilance registered a case against former ministers Adoor Prakash and P K Kunhalikutty, Santhosh Madhavan and his business associate B M Jayashankar in a case related to alleged violation of the Kerala Land Reforms Act while granting 92.44 acres of land for an IT park project at Puthenvelikkara.