Model-turned spiritual seeker, made famous by Anna Hazare, shoots himself to death

NEW DELHI: Spiritual leader Bhayyuji Maharaj today shot himself. He was taken to the Bombay hospital in Indore where he breathed his last.

Bhayyuji Maharaj was a well known spiritual guru. He was one of the several spiritual leaders who was given the title of minister of state by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government.

Bhayyuji shot to fame at the time of the Lokpal agitation led by Anna Hazare during the UPA regime. He was asked to mediate between the government and Hazare.



Bhaiyyuji, a zamindar’s son and a former model whose real name was Udaysingh Deshmukh, was known for an opulent lifestyle. Bhaiyyuji was always nattily dressed, operated from a sprawling ashram at Indore, travelled in a white Mercedes SUV with a small band of followers and was comfortable in environs such as the Taj Chambers. He had a wide following among politicians and businessmen, particularly in Maharashtra, who flock to him for advice, according to a 2011 ET report.

His connections extended to the highest in the land. "I spent more than an hour and a half with President Prathiba Patel this week, talking about many things from spirituality to computers", Bhaiyyu Maharaj told ET in 2011. His connections spanned the political divide.

For all his high-profile connections, Bhaiyyu was relatively unknown until August 2011 when an embattled UPA government scouted for emissaries to persuade Hazare to call off his fast at the Ramlila grounds. "I was on my way to Pune to visit my father who was unwell when a Cabinet Minister requested me to have a dialogue with Annaji. I have known him for over a decade now. So, I thought I should do my duty as a responsible citizen. I do social work and understand the language of a common man," he had said at that time.