Bombay High Court seeks EOW's report on steps to secure Osho Rajneesh's will

Osho Rajneesh/ File Pic

Pune police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Wednesday received a directive from the Bombay High Court to file a progress report on steps taken by it to secure late spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh's will and some related documents from Spain.

A bench of Justices R M Savant and Sarang Kotwal directed the EOW to file the report by June 29 this year. The direction came after the EOW informed the HC that a Pune court had already issued a letter of request to a court in Spain for securing the will purportedly made and signed by Rajneesh, and other related documents, and that it would take some time.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Pune resident Yogesh Thakker. In his plea filed through advocate Pradeep Havnur, Thakker alleged that the will, that surfaced 23 years after the spiritual guru's death, was fake.

Thakker claimed that trustees of the Switzerland-based Osho International Foundation had forged Rajneesh's signatures on a fake will to transfer his intellectual property rights in the foundation's name.

Thakker had also lodged an FIR with the Koregaon Park police in Pune in December 2013. However, later he claimed that no headway was made into the probe by the police and sought for the CBI investigation into the matter. Following which, though not the CBI, the case was transferred to the EOW of the Pune's police.

On a previous hearing, the court had directed the EOW to obtain a copy of Rajneesh's original will, which, according to the petitioner, had once been submitted before a court in Spain.

Also Read: Osho's Will: HC Raps Pune Police For Slow Probe

Edited by mid-day online desk, with inputs from PTI