For nearly a week, nobody knew what had happened to Mahant Brajesh Das. The 50-year-old spiritual leader had simply vanished from the Ravidas Ashram in Takabari, Haridwar, leaving behind no word, no note, nothing. A missing person complaint was filed on February 10. What police would eventually uncover was far darker than anyone at the ashram had imagined.
The Last Phone Call
Investigators did what they always do first — they pulled the call records. The trail led them to a woman named Shashi, living in Gangnoli village in Baghpat. That one detail cracked the case wide open.
When police brought her in for questioning, Shashi didn’t hold back for long. She confirmed that Brajesh Das had visited her on the evening of February 5, arriving on his bike. What neither of them had counted on was her husband Sanjeev walking through the door.
Thirty Seconds That Changed Everything
Sanjeev, who makes his living running a chowmein stall in the village, came home to find his wife and the mahant together in a situation that left no room for misunderstanding. Whatever was going through his mind in that moment, it overtook every other instinct. He reached for an axe lying nearby and brought it down on Brajesh Das’s head. The mahant died where he fell.
The rage passed. And then came the cold, calculated problem of what to do next.
A Phone Call at 11 PM
Sanjeev didn’t panic — or if he did, he didn’t let it stop him. Late that night, he called his brother Jogendra, who lives in Narela, Sonipat. Jogendra made the trip. Together, the two brothers wrapped the body in a sheet, loaded it up, and drove to the Krishna river near Gangnoli. They threw it in, presumably hoping the current would do the rest.
They also tried burning the mahant’s mobile phone — another loose end they needed gone.
The River Gave It All Back
It wasn’t enough. Police, working steadily on the missing persons case, had already zeroed in on Shashi. Once she talked, everything else followed. On the strength of the accused’s own directions, officers pulled the body from the river. The axe was recovered. So were the charred remnants of the mobile phone.
All three — Sanjeev, his brother Jogendra, and Shashi — are now in custody. Police have declared the case solved, just over a week after Mahant Brajesh Das was first reported missing.
What began as a search for a missing holy man ended at the bottom of a river, with three people under arrest and a village left to reckon with what happened behind one of its closed doors.
