Followers of Ashutosh Maharaj win fight to keep guru in freezer

    The followers of an Indian spiritual guru have won the fight to keep his body preserved in a freezer.

    An Indian court has granted the permission for Ashutosh Maharaj, who died of a suspected heart attack in January 2014, to remain in a frozen state.

    His followers allegedly insist he is not dead but meditating deeply, and that he will one day return.

    His body is in a commercial freezer at his ashram in Punjab.

    The judgement ends a three-year dispute between the guru's disciples and a man who claims to be his son, Dalip Kumar Jha.

    Mr Jha had sought permission to cremate the body, in line with Hindu rituals.

    He has accused the guru's disciples of retaining his body as a ploy to keep control of his vast assets.

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