Political motive alleged in Kerala govt move for re-probe into swami’s death

Inviting criticism that it is diverting attention from the bribery charge against Finance Minister KM Mani, the Kerala government has announced a re-investigation into the death of Swami Saswathikananda, former head of Sivagiri Mutt, who drowned while taking bath in a river 13 years ago.

Citing fresh evidences over the death of the swami, who was found dead in the Periyar river in suspicious circumstances in 2002, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said the case would be reinvestigated by the Crime Branch of the State police. The police had earlier closed it as accidental death by drowning.

The mysterious death of the swami, who had also faced allegations of fraud in the administration of Sivagiri Mutt, resurfaced recently following his relatives’ charge that Saswathikandanda had been murdered. Biju Ramesh, the controversial liquor-bar owners’ association leader, had linked the ‘murder’ to Vellappilly Natesan, the general secretary of the powerful Ezhava-caste organisation, Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP). 

The swami’s relatives have petitioned the Kerala High Court seeking a direction to the government to re-investigate the death. They have contended that the swami, who used to swim well, could not have died of drowning in the shallow water at a bathing ghat. They also point fingers at Natesan, who had fallen out with swami over the control of the vast assets of SNDP, the Sree Narayana Trust and Sivagiri Mutt.

However, while the government claims that there are compelling evidences to reopen the case, political rivals of the Congress-led UDF government have questioned the move, particularly against the backdrop of the hotly contested November 2 and 5 elections to the local bodies.

Two developments in the recent past, which are expected to impact the local-body elections, are pushed into focus: last week’s order of the Special Vigilance Judge to continue the investigation of the bribery allegation against KM Mani and Vellappally Natesan’s open support to the BJP in the elections and his efforts for a tie-up between SNDP and the BJP.

CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has alleged that the reinvestigation is aimed at diverting people’s attention from the vigilance court order against Mani. While the re-investigation was welcome, the timing raised suspicions, he noted.

CPI State chief Kanam Rajendran also sees a diversionary tactic in the move. BJP State president V Muraleedharan has said  it is a political conspiracy of the Oommen Chandy government to sully the image of Natesan as well as to divert people’s attention from the bar bribery case.

Natesan told the media that the reinvestigation decision was a cruelty inflicted on the memory of Saswathikananda who, according to him, had attained Jal Samadhi.

The Saswathikananda death had put Natesan on the defensive for long and the recent revival of the murder theory has had a dramatic cooling effect on his enthusiasm for a BJP-SNDP alliance. The BJP too was not eager for a formal tie-up, at least for the local-body elections.

For the UDF, whose electoral prospects are likely to be hurt by the Mani factor, it is unlikely to benefit from the reinvestigation decision, as the voters have already made up their mind.    

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