Devotees freeze body of dead Indian guru

The body of a dead Indian spiritual guru has been reportedly preserved in a freezer by his devotees, who believe that the saint is merely in a state of meditation and would return to life soon.

The authorities in Punjab had declared Ashutosh Maharaj dead on 29 January, after a suspected heart attack.

Maharaj's spokesman Swami said that the guru was not dead, adding that Medical science did not understand things like yogic science and was confident that he would come back.

He said that although doctors had declared Maharaj "clinically dead", he was actually alive and in a state of samadhi, which is the highest plane of meditation, the BBC reported.

After the guru, thought to be in his seventies, was declared dead by the authorities, his devotees reportedly kept a watch over his body for an entire week at the centre in Punjab's Jalandhar city.

Meanwhile, the decision to preserve the body was challenged in court by a man claiming to be his former driver, who alleged that his devotees were not cremating the body because they were eyeing the guru's properties.

Punjab legal official Reeta Kohli said that the court rejected his pleas after the Punjab government said that the man is clinically dead and that it is up to his followers to decide what they want to do with the body.