Irreverent, indisciplined, headstrong. And with a streak of insanity.

This is how members of Gurudham on Thursday described Kalipada Das, the 50-year-old former monk who, in a fit of rage, killed Samhita Roy, the head of the institution, along with her aide, on Wednesday night.

Initiated into the sect, the Akhanda Mandali, in the early eighties by its founder Swami Swarupananda Paramahansa Deva, Das spent a turbulent seven years in the Kankurgachhi temple, before being forced to leave.

“The entire time that he spent here was marked by bitter battles with the establishment,” Supriyo Kar, the joint secretary of the Akhanda Mandali, said on Thursday

Das’s indiscipline surfaced after Swami Swarupananda died and Samhita, known to the disciples as Mamoni, took over.

“With a change of leadership — and a change in the executive council — Kalipada became a rebel overnight. He insisted on wearing saffron robes, which only the leadership is allowed to wear (the rest wear white). The leadership would not tolerate this and Kalipada had to leave.”

Once out of Gurudham, Das decided to test his fortunes in far-off Jammu. Members of the Akhanda Mandali said he joined an ashram there.

They said Das’s temper and indiscipline flared again in the Jammu ashram and some allege that he was even sent to jail for having attacked the head of the Jammu ashram.

“We have reports that he spent three years in jail for assaulting the head of the Jammu ashram,” Kar said. The police, however, are yet to check on this.

Once out of jail, the sect members say, Das returned to Calcutta, and to Gurudham, seeking the forgiveness of Mamoni.

“Mamoni had a kind heart and accepted him back,” Kar said. “But Das stayed for little more than a year and disappeared one day about four years ago.”

In December last year, he showed up in Tripura, where Mamoni had gone to buy property for the institution. Their meeting was brief, after which Das left.

This March, Das called Mamoni and said he wanted to meet her. Mamoni reluctantly agreed and on Poila Baisakh, he turned up.

Two days later, Mamoni was dead.

“It was Mamoni’s excessive kindness that led to this tragedy,” Kar said.