Expedite probe into charges of forgery in late spiritual guru Osho's will, Bombay HC tells Pune police

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday refused to transfer a probe into allegations of forgery of late spiritual guru Osho Rajneesh’s will to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). A bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi said it did not feel the need to transfer the probe yet. The court, instead, directed the Pune police to expedite their ongoing investigation. The bench also directed the Union government to extend necessary assistance to the police and speed up grant of permissions for obtaining documents from foreign countries. The bench was hearing a petition filed by Yogesh Thakker, one of Rajneesh’s disciples. [caption id=“attachment_282354” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Osho. Image credit: Oshoworld.com[/caption] Thakker claimed that trustees of the Switzerland-based Osho International Foundation forged Rajneesh’s signatures on a fake will to transfer his intellectual property rights in the foundation’s name. He had lodged a FIR with Koregaon Park police in Pune in December 2013, but the probe made no headway, and hence, it should be handed over to the CBI, Thakker said. The bench however, said it did not think it “proper to transfer the probe to the CBI at the present stage”. The court had earlier directed the Koregaon Park police to obtain a copy of Osho’s original will which, according to the petitioner, was once submitted to a court in Spain. However, the police told the court that while it had written to the Union government in March 2017, seeking permission to carry out investigation in Spain, the Centre was yet to respond. The bench asked the Union government to take a decision on this expeditiously. It also directed the central government and the police to file progress reports in the matter by January 15, 2018.