New Delhi: Jawahar Bagh in Mathura housed over 3,000 “satyagrahis”, followers of Ram Vriksha Yadav. The cult ran a “parallel government" inside the premises of 300-acre Park. The group had expenses, huge ones, but survived through the years, thanks to generous donations by its well-wishers.
A peek into the “accounts” of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi gives scrupulous details into how the group managed its expensive affairs with spending on lawyers alone amounting into lakhs.
A half-burnt book, recovered in the combing operation by Police after the riots in Mathura, with blue cover has records of donations and expenses. Donations range from thousands to lakhs with a chunk coming in from naxal affected areas of Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The biggest benefactor mentioned in the “ledger” of the group is mentioned as Odisha’s Ranglal Rathore, who reportedly donated Rs 22 lakh every month. Other major donors are mentioned as Narain Singh of “Benaras” (Rs 10 lakh) and Mansingh (Rs 7 lakh) of Kannauj, reported Hindi daily Amar Ujala.
On its part, the police does not seem too convinced about the idea of Naxal funding to the cult group. Uttar Pradesh DGP Javeed Ahmed, has ruled out any Naxal connection saying, "There were people from Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh but there was no Naxal or left wing connection. In fact, they could have had some right wing connection, if at all."
Interestingly, a large part of group’s expenditure comprised fees of a “Vakeel Dilliwale (Delhi lawyer)”, as cases were slapped against it by the police. In just over a week in 2014, the book says, the organisation paid Rs 84,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 7,000 and Rs 4,000 to the lawyer, according to a report by The Indian Express.
An amount of over Rs 32 lakh was spent in the first five months of coming to Jawahar Bagh. In the course of a week around that time, the settlement spent around Rs 1 lakh. While Rs 22,550 was spent on renovating the tents housing the “satyagrahis”, Rs 36,000 was spent alone on providing water to the settlement.
The book records that the cult used power-saving CFL bulbs and generators for power back-up. As per the book, the diesel for the generators was procured by “Srikanth”.
