The CBI on Thursday evening found Rs 3 crore in cash, jewellery, cartridges and a tonne of ghee in one of the rooms of Mahant Narendra Giri in his Allahabad ashram, a year after the eminent monk committed suicide, ashram sources said.

There has been no statement from the CBI, which is investigating charges that blackmail by people close to him led to the suicide by one of the most politically influential monks in Uttar Pradesh.

Narendra’s four rooms at the Sri Math Baghamari Gaddi had been locked since the former head of the All India Akhara Parishad, who had ministers at his beck and call, hanged himself in one of them on September 20 last year.

His purported suicide note, which got leaked, suggested he had ended his life to escape “unbearable embarrassment” after being blackmailed by some of his disciples with doctored videos that sought to show him in intimate positions with women.

The case was transferred to the CBI on the demand of sadhus from across the state.

A source in the ashram told reporters that Rs 3 crore in cash, some gold and silver jewellery, 13 live cartridges and 10 quintals of ghee had been found in one of Narendra’s rooms.

“A will was also found in which Narendra has given away his belongings to Balbir Giri, his successor as mahant of the mutt. The CBI brought in a machine to count the currency notes, which were in denominations of Rs 50, Rs 100 and Rs 500,” the source said.

Balbir Giri neither confirmed nor denied the alleged recoveries. He said the CBI had handed him back the keys to three of the rooms but not the one in which Narendra’s body was found.

After the suicide, police had quoted two ashram members, Amar Giri and Pawan Maharaj, as saying in a written complaint that three of Narendra’s closest disciples — Anand Giri, Adhya Prasad and Sandeep Tiwari — were blackmailing him.

The CBI chargsheeted the trio in November 2021 for criminal conspiracy and abetment of suicide. All three are in jail.

But last month, Amar and Pawan claimed in an affidavit before Allahabad High Court that they had “never named anybody” and knew nothing, and that the police had forced them to sign on blank sheets.

The purported suicide note mentioned two video clips and said they were in the possession of Anand.

“There is a video with a woman and another with a young girl on the basis of which they are blackmailing me. Although they are doctored videos, I am ending my life to protect myself from unbearable embarrassment,” the note said.

A day before his suicide, Narendra had summoned deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, who later said that nothing confidential or important was discussed.