Kiritbhai, a famous religious preacher, recently found himself embroiled in a controversy of his own making.

Forget the long speeches laced with religious songs with devotees finding themselves exhilarated, this time it was the turn of Kiritbhai himself to listen to music albeit of a different kind.

It was surprising to see him rushing to the Bombay police complaining about the fraud committed on him by a couple calling themselves Jhunjhunwalas. In his complaint to the police the religious preacher is reported to have told the police that this fraudster couple won his confidence and then took a loan from him and just vanished.

The senior police officers rather found themselves out of their wits when they discovered that Kiritbhai, who preached a life of simplicity and a turn away from the 'material world' had loaned 35 million Rs to the fraudster couple. Definitely this was no small amount and it seems they duly alerted the Income Tax people to know for themselves the source of this income As things stand today while the Bombay police is trying to locate the fraudster couple, the income tax people have also become active. For the Income Tax sleuths the query is simple: how a religious preacher who has no recognisable source of income and who preaches virtues of Spartan life could amass wealth to the tune of crores which could be loaned at interest?

And if one were to believe a section of the media Kiritbhai seems to have become incommunicado. When the media tried to contact Kiritbhai to know his version of the chain of events, he refused to talk over this issue and claimed that he was 'right now in Bengal'.

It is for everyone to see that if Kiritbhai had not rushed to the police and maintained silence about this 'fraud committed on him', nobody could have ever known the role monies play in the spiritual world of jetriding sadhus and globetrotting `Bapus'.

Of course, looking at the manner in which cases against the high and the mighty are hushed up it is not difficult to predict what would happen next in this particular case. One fine morning one can hear that Kiritbhai himself has 'decided' (or one should say 'advised') to withdraw the case to save himself from further embarrassment claiming that it was a pure case of miscommunication.

Our recent past is witness to a similar case of coverup when CNN-IBN and Cobrapost had aired an expose which showed godmen laundering money, in the name of God, all for a commission (CNN-IBN Posted Monday , May 07, 2007 at 08:11).

The government had then even promised 'swift and strict' action in this case which had shocked the entire country. New Delhi: Spiritual gurus, babas, Godmen - they are known by many names and are often the repository of a collective religious faith in India. But the faith has been maligned and many who claim to be Godmen, promising to rid lives of evil are nothing short of evil themselves. Looking at the dilly-dallying by the state over this expose Brinda Karat, leader of CPI(M) had demanded action against the seven godmen who had 'admitted involvement in halwa operations on a television programme' (The Hindu, 26 May 2007). In a letter sent to home minister Shivraj Patil she had categorically said : "These gentlemen run Trusts and charitable foundations which are used as cover for their nefarious and illegal activities. They have cynically misused and made a mockery of the faith of those who have become their devotees. They have made crores through a racket of helping tax evaders. But equally important, the routes they have provided for conversion of black money into white can easily be used [by] terrorist organisations and anti-national elements to fund their activities,".

History bears witness to the fact that no action was taken against the erring 'Godmen' despite strong prima facie evidence against them. Perhaps friends of Kiritbhai may ask the government to emulate the approach adopted last year.