Swami Shraddhanand moves SC seeking stay on docuseries ‘Dancing on the Grave’

NEW DELHI: Jailed godman Murali Manohar Mishra aka Swami Shraddhanand has approached the Supreme Court seeking a stay on Amazon Prime’s new crime docuseries ‘Dancing on the Grave’. The plea filed sought direction to stop the release or circulation of the docuseries immediately.

The docuseries narrates the story of Shakereh Khaleeli (maiden name Namazi) of the erstwhile royal family of Mysore, and her murder. Swami Shraddhanand is currently serving a jail sentence of 30 years in her murder case. He has also sent a legal notice sent to the makers of the web series — India Today and Prime Video.

Advocate Varun Thakur, appearing for Shraddhanand, mentioned the matter before a bench of Justices K M Joseph and BV Nagarathna for an urgent hearing. The lawyer requested the bench to stop the telecast and distribution of the web series as it prejudices his case pending in the Supreme Court. The bench, however, said the issue could wait.

Swami Shraddhanand has said that the docuseries ‘adversely affect’ his legal rights. The web series ‘Dancing on the Grave’ uses archival footage, news clippings, interviews and dramatisations to showcase the murder of Namazi. It also features Swami Shraddhanand, the murderer who also allegedly killed his own wife.

Namazi was the granddaughter of the former diwan of the erstwhile state of Mysore, Mirza Ismail. She married Shraddhanand in 1986 after her first marriage with former Indian envoy to Iran, Akbar K Khaleeli ended. Five years after her marriage with Shraddhanand, she went missing and her body was exhumed two years later in his backyard. Namazi had been buried alive at their house on Residency Road in Bengaluru. (ANI)