Remember Swamiji From ‘Scam 1992’? Here’s Everything You Need To Know About Chandraswami

Scam 1922 the crime drama web series on SonyLIV directed by Hansal Mehta is gaining a lot of popularity and reviews. Right from the actors to the dialogues, everything is perfect as it enlightens the biggest financial scams in India done by Harshad Mehta.

It is not difficult to identify Harshad’s colleagues, friends, political figures and people from Harsha Mehta family, from his wife Jyoti Mehta to brother Ashwin Mehta. But there is one person whom you must be wondering about. And that is Swamiji.

Who was Swamiji in Scam 1992?

We are talking about the person who guided Harshad on phone from Delhi. He was the whom Harshad believed in, till his end but he probably betrayed Harshad in the end.

So people on Twitter asked this question as to who Swamiji really is?

After doing some research and from the information available on the internet, it can be said that Swamiji was known to many people as Chandraswami. He had identities as a politician, businessman, and astrologer. The self-styled godman had a very close connection with former Prime Minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao.

Early life of Chandraswami

Born in a Jain family as Nemichand Jain Chandraswami was famous for his accurate prediction. He got attracted to tantric study right from his childhood. Chandraswami left his house to pursue his career as a Tantra practitioner under Upadhyay Amar Muni, a master of Tantra. Chandraswami began to spend time on meditation in the jungles of Bihar.

His recognition as an astrologer

The former Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao was the first eminent personality to get associated with him. Chandraswami was said to be Narasimha Rao’s spiritual advisor. After the former came to power as a prime minister, Swamiji constructed an ashram in Delhi. He named it Vishwa Dharmayatan Sanathan. Indira Gandhi had allotted him the land to run his ashram.

Chandraswami bestowed spiritual advice to foreign leaders like Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa of Bahrain, Sultan of Brunei, British PM Margaret Thatcher, actress Elizabeth Taylor, Adnan Khashoggi, Dawood Ibrahim, and Tiny Rowland. Chandraswami had developed an abundant political contact.

In Scam 1992 Harshad in his interview to Sucheta Dalal mentions that he was getting help from Delhi. And in the web-series one can see Harshad communicating with Swamiji in Delhi.

It can be seen in the series that Swamiji didn’t support Harshad after his financial instability got highlighted in 1992. In a press conference, Harshad Mehta claimed that then Prime Minister of India P. V. Narasimha Rao’s was also part of the scam. However, the latter denied all the allegations and said that he never met Harshad Mehta.

Downfall of Chandraswami

In 1996, a London business person got him arrested for defrauding him of $100,000. Later, the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act also charged him for violating their policy. The income tax officer raided his ashram and reported Adnan Khashoggi’s draft payments of $11 million.

Volume 2 of the Jain Commission observed that Chandraswami was involved as financier in the conspiracy that led to the assassination of former PM Rajiv Gandhi. After that he kept a low profile for almost two decades. In June 2011, the Supreme Court penalized him a sum of Rs. 9 crores for violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

Chandraswami death

Swamiji breathed his last in Apollo Hospital in New Delhi on 23rd May 2017 owing to
multiple organ failures.

All the above mention theories are based on the popular opinion on internet. In the show nothing has been specifically mentioned, so it is not sure that Swamiji in Scam 1992 was Chandraswami.