Matri Sadan will file defamation case against AIIMS chief, says seer

HARIDWAR: The death of Swami Gyan Swaroop Sanand aka Professor GD Agrawal continued to be a topic of tussle between All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh - the hospital where he breathed his last and Matri Sadan - the ashram from where the Ganga crusader had undertaken his 111-day fast.

Seers of Matri Sadan took offence at AIIMS director Dr Ravi Kant's statement (made on the day Agrawal died) in which he claimed that someone was pressurising Agrawal to continue his fast unto death even though he had agreed to end it. Matri Sadan head Swami Shivanand Saraswati announced on Saturday that the ashram will "file a defamation case against the AIIMS director over his politically motivated statement." He added a case will also be filed against cabinet minister Nitin Gadkari, Haridwar DM Deepak Rawat, SDM Manish Kumar, CO Kankhal, SHO Kanakhal and a sub-inspector of Kanakhal police station "for killing Agrawal."

Addressing a press conference at the ashram, Shivanand said, "Professor GD Agrawal listened to only his inner voice and nobody could mislead him. The statement of the AIIMS director is an insult of his sacrifice and we are going to file a case of defamation against him."

He fadded that AIIMS still had not cleared the air on how Swami Sanand died and the circumstances leading to his death.

Reacting to the seer's claims, Harish Mohan Thapliyal, PRO AIIMS, told TOI, "Matri Sadan's Swami Shivananad has been persistently making false allegations against AIIMS and our director. So we have decided to file a defamation case against him in the high court."