HARIDWAR, INDIA, April 16, 2021 (Times of India): Mahamandaleshwar Kapil Dev Das, 65, of the Nirwani Akhada of Madhya Pradesh died of complications from Covid-19 at a private facility here on Thursday at the Maha Kumbh area. [He had been sick with Covid for nearly two weeks prior.] A senior official in the health department confirmed to TOI that a total of 68 “top seers” in Haridwar have tested positive for Covid-19 between April 5 and 14. In the wake of the increasing number of Covid cases in the sadhu community in Haridwar, Niranjani Akhada, one of the largest naga sanyasi monastic orders and the second most powerful after the Juna Akhada, has announced it will now exit the mela. Secretary of the Niranjani Akhada Mahant Ravindra Puri said that
“most of the saints and their followers” in the camps at Haridwar have Covid-19 like symptoms due to which saints of the akhada have decided to end their participation in the mela from April 17.
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