An important member of the Osho Rajneesh movement, it was Dr Gokul Gokani who had issued the Indian spiritual mystic Osho’s death certificate and revealed the truth almost two decades later.
News came in on 9th July of the demise of Dr Gokul Gokani (aka Swami Anand Krishna), 88, a key witness to the cover-up in the suspicious circumstances of Osho’s death in Pune, India, on 19th January 1990.
An ENT surgeon by profession, it was Dr Gokani who had issued Osho’s death certificate, paving the way for Osho’s hurried cremation at the Tulsiram Burning Ghats in Koregaon Park on the night of 19th January 1990.
A resident of Koregaon Park at the time of Osho’s death, Dr Gokani eventually re-located to Ashland, Oregon where he was based. For nearly two decades he did not reveal the shocking sequence of how he had issued Osho’s death certificate in spite of being denied access to Osho in his final moments by the Commune’s leaders—the Canadian-born Swami Anand Jayesh (Michael O’Byrne, now no more) and the British doctor, Swami Prem Amrito (Dr John Andrews).
Dr Gokani was even asked to join the group of 4 which rushed to Pune Municipal Corporation’s office at Sassoon Hospital to secure the Cremation Pass as the cremation had to be done in a tearing hurry. Later, Dr Gokani also revealed that he was asked to be present but not open his mouth at the Osho Commune’s press conference addressed by Amrito on the circumstances of Osho’s death.
Incidentally, Dr Gokani had never treated Osho but was urgently summoned by Jayesh and asked to issue Osho’s death certificate. This was not done by Amrito, who was, in fact Osho’s personal physician and had the authority to issue the death certificate.
Dr Gokani said in an affidavit that he did not know the real cause of Osho’s death. Over the years he had been revealing to his close friends bits and pieces of what had actually happened on the day Osho died, and this circulated in whispers as a piece of gossip among Osho’s followers.
Finally, in his own words, Dr Gokani decided to “unburden his conscience” and on 14 December 2015 gave a detailed video interview to this journalist in Baroda where he was visiting his daughter. During that visit, Dr Gokani and his wife Kumud, also signed an affidavit (with this journalist as a witness) revealing the circumstances of how he issued Osho’s death certificate.
In an interview to this journalist, the late Swami Satya Vedant (Dr Vasant Joshi) said of Dr Gokani: “He was a beautiful man, a beautiful sannyasin. Totally dedicated. I came to learn that he left (Pune) because, as I heard, he was asked― or forced or coerced―to do certain things― which things I don’t know. He disagreed with that. So, he voluntarily decided to get out. This is all in a nutshell that I know.”
After Osho returned to Pune in the late 1980s, Dr. Gokani offered voluntary services in the medical department of the Commune and also served as a Tour Guide at the commune in the afternoons. He had re-located to Pune from Mombasa (Kenya) in 1989 to be close to his Master and in Pune, had his own clinic in Aurora Towers, Camp, and a consulting room at Medinova Diagnostic Services on JM Road. The doctor’s entire family was devoted to Osho, including his wife Kumud and younger daughter Chetna.
On the morning of Friday, January 19, 1990, the Osho Commune tried to locate him frantically and finally located him at his residence. The German sannyasin, Chitten, told Dr Gokani that he was urgently needed at the Commune. On arrival at the commune, at around 11:00 am Dr. Gokani was brought to Jayesh’s office in Krishna House where he was told by Jayesh and Amrito that Osho was dying, and the matter should be kept secret.
As he revealed in his affidavit, he was, however, never taken to see Osho when he was alive. At around 5:00 pm, he was taken to Osho’s bedroom in Lao Tzu House where he was plainly told by Amrito that Osho had “just left the body” and that he should write the death certificate needed for cremation.
Dr. Gokani said he followed the standard procedure and examined Osho’s vital signs such as pulse, blood pressure, pupil reflexes, and other reflexes to confirm his death. When he lifted Osho’s robe, he saw “some spillage of food or a bit of vomit on his robe,” which he found unusual.
Dr. Gokani revealed that when he asked Amrito what he should write as the cause of death as he had not seen Osho when he was alive, he was instructed by Amrito and Jayesh “to write myocardial infarction, which in layman’s term is heart attack.” This discussion between him, Jayesh and Amrito took place in front of Osho’s dead body on what should be written as the cause of death which would be accepted as natural death and not arouse any suspicion or need for post-mortem. “They discussed if we write ‘myocardial infarction, then there won’t be any need for further investigations, and it would be easy to get the government certificate (cremation pass).” It was after this discussion that he was asked to write “myocardial infarction” (heart attack) as the cause of death.
Dr Gokani said that after writing the death certificate on his letterhead, Jayesh took the hand-written certificate and brought a typed copy on another of Dr. Gokani’s letterheads for signature. Such was the hurry in getting done with the certificate that when some typing errors were pointed out, Jayesh asked the ENT surgeon to correct them by hand rather than lose time in re-typing.
The doctor mentions in his affidavit that very strangely, the lower part of the letterhead where his clinic address was printed was neatly cut and snipped off with a paper cutter—probably to ensure that contacting him won’t be easy. Rather strangely, the doctor was also asked to accompany three other sanyasins- Dhyanesh, Prem Anadi and Dr. Narayan Kshirsagar to the municipal office to get the Cremation Pass.
Looking back at the entire episode, he felt that since he was specially called in to issue Osho’s death certificate, Jayesh and Amrito should have at least let him see Osho’s condition when he was dying. “That way I would have known what was the cause of death.”
