Kanpur’s Neem Karoli Baba: All about the godman, his rise to fame, controversies and more

Produced by: Bhoomika
Designed by: Mohsin

Santosh Singh Bhadoria or Neem Karoli Baba, who belongs to a village in Kanpur, used to be a farmer. He later became a farmers' leader. The self-styled godman eventually started delivering sermons and predicting the future

Who is Baba Karoli

Santosh Singh Bhadoria soon became famous as Baba Karoli. He lives inside an ashram built across the Ganga bank in Kanpur where he meets thousands of followers who share their problems with him in the hope of finding a solution

Karoli Baba’s rise to fame

A person has to buy a ticket worth Rs 100 and pray for their wishes to come true. If their wish is not granted within 15 days, they can visit Baba Karoli’s ashram again, where a white thread would be tied around their wrist and they would be able to meet the baba in person

Baba Karoli’s ashram

Karoli Baba called Sidhu Moose Wala's family to his darbar a year later after his death to pray for his soul. The Punjabi singer was shot dead by unknown assailants on May 29, 2022 days after he contested in 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election

Neem Karoli Baba on
Sidhu Moose Wala

Karoli Baba has also been accused of assault. A doctor filed an FIR against the godman, claiming that he retorted to physical violence during one of his sessions

FIR against Neem
Karoli Baba

As per reports, the doctor, Dr Siddharth Chaudhary, had questioned the alleged miraculous powers of Karoli Baba during one of his sessions following which the godman's security allegedly thrashed and threatened him

Assault charges against Karoli Baba

As per some viral videos, the doctor suffered a fracture to his nose and was bruised during the scuffle, though Baba Karoli has denied all the charges

Doctor vs Karoli Baba

Retd. ASI Prakash Narayan Bhatt accused Karoli Baba of fraud and has questioned his alleged miraculous powers. He threatened to file a complaint against him

Retired ASI’s claim
against Karoli Baba

In recent times, many instances of people questioning self-styled godmen have come to light. An anti-superstition organisation had filed a complaint against Dhirendra Shastri of Bageshwar Dham asking him to prove his alleged powers

Dhirendra Shastri of
Bageshwar Dham