Nearly a month after the Eiffel Tower controversy, a senior monk of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sect (BAPS) has said that the organisation had been given a “clean chit” and that it had never asked for the removal of female staff, referring to an investigation by the Parisian authorities.Eiffel Tower was closed for a day on September 7 after employees protested the removal of female staff during a private visit by a delegation of the Ahmedabad-headquartered BAPS on September 5. The delegation was led by its chief Mahant Swami. The visit was part of the Festival of Culture organised in Paris as part of the opening of the group’s temple last month.In a video statement on Friday, Brahmavihari Swami said, “The city of Paris had nominated an independent agency — the Inspector General of the city of Paris — which conducted a completely neutral investigation, and BAPS has a clean chit. They (BAPS) never asked for the removal [of female staff]. Authorities have mentioned that the probe clears BAPS.” He added, “Somebody created a misunderstanding regarding the spiritual disciplines of a ‘sadhu’. Brahmacharya is one of the four stages of the Hindu dharma, and a little confusion was created across the world.”Also Read | Eiffel Tower chief to step down after BAPS Hindu delegation row in ParisThe General Inspectorate of the City of Paris (IGVP) investigation reportedly found that there had been “no explicit request” from BAPS regarding the removal of female staff.The statement follows the September 29 announcement by the chief of the company operating the Eiffel Tower that he will be stepping down at the end of this year, following the controversy, AFP reported.Patrick Branco Ruivo has been the director general of the Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel (SETE) since 2018. SETE said the probe found “operational flaws and shortcomings” that resulted in the “unacceptable” exclusion of female staff, as per the report.Story continues below this adReacting to the investigation report, BAPS Paris issued a statement. “From the outset, BAPS has consistently stated that it never asked for female employees to be hidden, removed or excluded. The investigation establishes the fact that BAPS made no such request for women to be excluded along the visitor route. We hope this clarification will contribute to a better understanding of the circumstances and allow everyone involved to move forward respectfully,” it said.The BAPS delegation of nearly 100 monks visited at the end of a week of celebrations ahead of the inauguration of the Swaminarayan Hindu Temple in Bussy-Saint-Georges, in Seine-et-Marne, an eastern suburb of Paris, on September 6.Also Read | That day in Paris: Hindu religious group, vow of celibacy, the Eiffel TowerThe investigation by the General Inspectorate of the City of Paris (IGVP), as reported by French newspaper Le Parisien, found that the incident was the result of a “collective dysfunction.”The General Inspectorate, which was tasked with the investigation on September 8, conducted 14 interviews and examined documents provided by SETE “at its request”.At the end of its investigation, Le Parisien reported that the IGVP was categorical: no, there was no “explicit request from the Hindu religious delegation aimed at excluding women throughout the visit.” The paper also reported that the investigation found that “women were indeed sidelined during this visit”.