Spiritual leader Bhayyuji Maharaj commits suicide

Spiritual leader Bhayyuji Maharaj allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself at his residence here on Tuesday.

Earlier, he was admitted to Bombay Hospital in a critical condition.

Jayant Rathore of the Indore Police told media, "He had shot himself in the head."

Bhayyuji, whose real name is Udaysingh Deshmukh, had a strong following in Maharashtra and was known to have political connections with the state leaders. He announced his retirement from public life in 2016.

He was associated with key leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress Party and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for a long time.

Bhayyuji earned national attention in 2011 when he had a dialogue with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on the Lokpal Bill, when the latter was on an indefinite hunger strike and refused to discuss the bill with the Centre.