Petition filed against self-styled godman Dhirendra Shastri in Bihar

Ahead of self-styled godman Dhirendra Shastri's visit to Patna, a lawyer filed a case against the chief of Bageshwar Dham, a pilgrimage site in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur district, in Muzaffarpur civil court on Monday.

Suraj Kumar, a lawyer in Muzaffarpur court, claimed that Shastri has hurt religious sentiments besides spreading superstition in the society.

The case was filed in the court of the additional chief judicial magistrate of Muzaffarpur. The hearing of the case is scheduled for May 10.

"During his speech in Udaipur, Dhirendra Shastri claimed that he is an 'avatar' of Lord Hanuman. Such claims hurt the sentiments of crores of Hindus. Hence, I have filed a case against him under IPC Sections of 295A, 298 and 505 in the Muzaffarpur ACJM court. The court has admitted my case which will be heard on May 10," Kumar said.

Shastri is scheduled to be in Patna for a spiritual camp from May 13 to 17.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and union minister Giriraj Singh has come out in support of Shastri and dared Bihar govt to stop Dhirendra Shastri's Patna visit.

"The organisers of the event had applied for space in Gandhi Maidan, which the district administration refused. The state government led by Nitish Kumar gave space to the Muslim community for prayers during EID, but it has denied space to a Hindu saint in Gandhi Maidan," Singh said.

"The Bihar government may have denied Shastri space in Gandhi Maidan, but no one can dare to stop from him landing in Patna for a religious programme," Singh said.

Earlier, RJD leaders Tej Pratap Yadav, Jagadanand Singh, Vrisan Patel and Surendra Ram had objected to Shastri's visit to Patna.