The troubles of Sant Asaram Bapu, who made it to international headlines following the mysterious deaths of four boys at his gurukuls in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh in the last one month, know no end.

Asaram’s 35-year-old son Narayan Sai is wanted by the Gujarat CID (Crime) for questioning following the mysterious deaths of two boys at the Ahmedabad gurukul. Now, the district collector of Sabarkantha has ordered for action against Asaram regarding the purchase of huge tracts of land by his family on the basis of forged documents.

He has called for action under Section 84-C of the Bombay Tenancy Act, which authorises seizure of the land and registration of criminal offence against the accused for using forged documents.

According to an order issued by the district collector in January this year, Asaram Bapu, his wife Laxmi Devi, son Narayan Sai and daughter-in-law Shilpaben had purchased huge tracts of agricultural land for their two ashrams in Pedhmala and Rajpur villages. The four had produced forged documents that showed them as agriculturists.

According to the state government officials, non-agriculturists are not allowed to purchase agricultural land within Gujarat. Even farmers buying agricultural land have to furnish a proof or a certificate from the local mamlatdar for getting agricultural land transferred in their name.

Officials said Asaram and his family members were allegedly issued the certificates by the mamlatdar of Abdasa taluka of Kutch district. The four were shown to be residents of Bitta village.

Investigation by the collectorate, however, revealed that the certificates were forged. Himmatnagar taluka sub-divisional magistrate P S Prajapai said, “During my inquiries, the Abdasa mamlatdar told me that no documents as produced by Asaram and his family for the purchase of land in Sabarkantha district, were issued by his office.”

Rupam Singh, in-charge District Collector and District Development Officer (DDO) also confirmed that inquiries had revealed the certificates were indeed forged.

Prajapati said action against Asaram and his family was yet to be initiated in the matter. “I have asked Asaram and his family members to produce the documents by August 25,” said Prajapati.