Ashutosh case: Hearing adjourned to April 28
Dalip Kumar Jha, who claims to be the son of Ashutosh, the “clinically dead” sect head of the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan (DJJS), Nurmahal (Jalandhar), on Thursday filed fresh documents to back his claim.
Dalip Kumar Jha, who claims to be the son of Ashutosh, the “clinically dead” sect head of the Divya Jyoti Jagriti Sansthan (DJJS), Nurmahal (Jalandhar), on Thursday filed fresh documents to back his claim.
His lawyer, SP Soi, said a fresh application had been filed with affidavits of Ashutosh’s purported wife, Navedi Devi, detailing about the solemnisation of her and Ashutosh’s marriage, along with another affidavit of one Bal Kishan Jha, who was the priest at the marriage ceremony.
The other affidavits are of one Ram Parsad, who acted as a messenger for marriage invitations and also attended the marriage, and of Ashutosh’s purported brothers, Bhavendra Jha and Tantra Nand Jha, giving details of the marriage and other family members. They have also produced Ashutosh’s voter card, Soi added. The fresh application will be decided by the high court along with pending appeals in the case. Meanwhile, the hearing in the case has been adjourned for April 28.
On December 1, 2014, a high court single-judge bench had declared Ashutosh “clinically dead” and directed the Punjab government to cremate him within 15 days. However, on December 15, a division bench stayed the order. The appeal against the order has been filed by the Punjab government, the DJJS and Dalip Kumar Jha.
The sect head was declared “clinically dead” by doctors in January 2014. His mortal remains are lying in a deep freezer on the dera premises since then as his followers claim that he is in ‘samadhi’ (state of deep meditation).