His real name is Bittu Bhagat, but his fascination with gold earned him the nickname “Golden Baba”. Claiming to be a living saint, this Indian holy man tells his followers to live in poverty, while he covers himself in gold clothes and accessories worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Golden Baba has apparently been in the sights of Indian tax officials for some time, but he also attracted the attention of the press when he made an appearance at the sacred Kumbh Mela pilgrimage with two young European beauties hanging on his arms and wearing dozens of solid gold accessories around his neck and on his hands. He looked more like a middle-aged playboy than a holy man preaching about the rewards of a simple life free of worldly possessions. But reports claim Bittu Bhagat tells his disciples they mush shun their material wealth, even their clothes, if they want to follow him, and investigators say he only accepts donations in solid gold. Formerly a simple tailor, this Golden Baba now allegedly has a fortune of several millions of dollars and travels around in a fleet of chauffeur-driven Mercedes, Bentleys and BMWs.

“This is my way of preaching, people come to see my gold,” Bhagat said during a speech at the Kumbh Mela, in Allahabad. Referring to his refusal to pay a single penny in taxes, the Golden Baba, whose gold thread religious robes alone are worth around $400,000, said “This is God’s gold, not mine. I know what the tax officials are trying to do, but I hope that by being close to me they will eventually be brought into God’s way and give up their greed.” Yeah, they’re the greedy ones… Weirder still is the fact that Golden Baba seems to have a lot of young European followers as well, as shown by the photos of him and his entourage at this year’s Kumbh Mela. I wonder what he told them to get them to donate all of their wealth to him.

This Golden Baba isn’t the only Indian who loves to cover himself in as much gold as possible. A few months back we wrote about Datta Phuge, a businessman who commissioned a 3.2-kilo solid gold shirt, accessorized with 5 kilograms of gold chains, bracelets and rings.

Photos via Daily Bhaksar

Source: Central European News