Police have registered a case against 10 sadhus in Haridwar after other members of an akhara accused them of trying to grab properties by illegally taking over the management committee.

The 10 sadhus from the Shree Panchayati Nirmala Akhara, which is said to have land and ashrams worth Rs 200 crore along Sati Ghat on the banks of the Ganga in Uttarakhand, have denied the allegations against them and accused the other group of grabbing the akhara two years ago and cancelling their membership.

The Nirmala Sikh tradition is believed to have been founded by Guru Gobind Singh in the late 17th century.

Vikas Bharadwaj, the station house officer of the Kankhal area of Haridwar, said: “As per the complaint received from Jaswindar Singh, the treasurer of the akhara, these 10 sadhus — Resham Singh, Hakam Singh, Kashmir Singh, Prem Singh, Kamaljit Singh, Mahant Gopal Singh, Jagjit Singh, Sukha Singh, Mahant Vikkar Singh and Jagtar Singh — held a meeting on August 19, 2019, and illegally elected Resham Singh as its president and formed a new committee of office-bearers. Then they allegedly tried to register the new committee with the sub-registrar of firms, societies and chits of the Uttarakhand government.”

Senthil Abudai Krishnaraj, senior superintendent of police of Haridwar, said: “A case of forgery has been registered against the 10 sadhus on the basis of a complaint. Further action will be taken after an investigation.”

Jaswindar Singh told reporters that the 10 sadhus, who had come from various places in Punjab such as Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Sangrur, Firozpur, Hoshiarpur and Barnala, were not even primary members of the akhara but had been living there for long.

“I am the treasurer of the akhara and Gyandev Singh is the president,” Jaswindar Singh said.

However, Resham Singh alleged that Gyandev Singh and Jaswindar Singh had forcibly taken over the akhara two years ago and cancelled the membership of the 10 sadhus when they complained about financial irregularities at the sect’s ashram in the Kankhal area of Haridwar.

“The previous committee, which was formed without holding a meeting of the members, had lost the moral standing to continue as it had been involved in corruption. We are still members of the akhara and can prove that we have formed the new committee by following due process,” Resham Singh said.