The Uttarakhand government launched Operation Kalnemi on Thursday to identify and book fake sadhus.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami told reporters: “We have to stop fake sadhus from cheating people. Uttarakhand is known as Devbhoomi (the land of the gods) because it is a sacred place. But we have seen some people indulging in anti-social activities in the guise of sadhus. We cannot allow anybody to pollute the religion.

“We launched Operation Kalnemi a day before the start of the Kanwar Yatra because a large number of devotees will be in the state to collect holy water from the Ganga. Their safety and sacredness must be protected from those who don a particular kind of clothes to mislead and cheat them,” he said.

The Kanwar Yatra will commence on Friday and conclude on August 9.

Earlier, Dhami wrote on X: “I have given strict instructions to officers to launch Operation Kalnemi against those who wear a cloth (saffron) in the name of Sanatan Dharma in Devbhoomi Uttarakhand to deceive people and play with their sentiments.

“We have come across many cases in the state when anti-social elements donned the clothes of sadhus and saints to swindle people, particularly women. It not only hurts the religious sentiments of the people but also disturbs harmony and tarnishes the image of the Sanatan tradition. We will not consider religion while acting against those found playing mischief. There are many Kalnemis active in our society these days. They sport religious dresses to commit crimes…. We’ll never spare them,” he wrote.

Kalnemi was a demon in the Ramayana. He was the son of Mareech, a demon whom Lord Ram killed. Ravana had sent Kalnemi to kill Hanuman when he was on the Dronagiri Hill to look for a herb required to save the life of an injured Lakshman. Kalnemi tried to mislead Hanuman in the guise of a sadhu, but Hanuman recognised and killed him.

Some people living as sadhus in Chamba, Tehri Garhwal, had entered the house of Kuldeep Rawat, a local, and misbehaved with women last month. The police booked them but didn’t arrest them.

Swami Sarvanand Giri and many other sadhus of Haridwar had written to the chief minister last month to intervene to stop the activities of fake sadhus.

“The government must start police verification of every sadhu in the state,” he had written while reminding the government that a Bangladeshi national who had identified himself as Karan Giri had been living at the Pilot Baba Ashram illegally as a sadhu. People came to know about the Muslim man when the police arrested him.

Three persons wearing saffron clothes had decamped with the gold jewellery of a woman at Nandpur Narka Topa village in Udham Singh Nagar district in March. Tulsa Devi, the victim, has been unwell for years, and the sadhus asked her to show them her jewellery. “They said they would do some tantra-mantra to cure me if I put my jewellery in a red bag and gave it to them,” she said. They then fled with the jewellery.