The Uttarakhand High Court on Friday directed the State Government to take the body of professor G D Agarwal (Sanand) from All India Institute Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to Matri Sadan Haridwar within eight hours and also to keep his body for 76 hours in the ashram for the people to pay their last respects. The court has also directed the Senior Superintendents of Police, Dehradun and Haridwar to ensure that the body of Sanand is transported with due respects.
Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Vijay Verma on the day, a bench comprising the officiating Chief Justice Rajiv Sharma and Manoj Tiwari ordered that the body of the ascetic, who had died on October 11 following fasting for 111 days for the cause of Ganga, would be donated to AIIMS Rishikesh in tune with his last wish only after the people are enabled to pay their last respect to the Ganga crusader.
In the PIL, Verma said that the administration had stopped the followers of the ascetic from paying respect to his mortal remains despite repeated appeals.