SHILLONG: Swami Biswatmananda, the general secretary of Bharat Sevashram Sangha, said on Sunday the monk who is facing embezzlement charges has been suspended and removed from Shillong.
In a statement issued here, the general secretary said the governing body of the Sangha had taken strong action and the accused Swami Damodarananda has been suspended from Sangha activities till final decision of the Sangha.
Recently, the headquarters of the Sangha, after receiving complaints of misappropriation, “immediately called for 10 years’ accounts for verification and it was found that the ashram accounts were correct and there was no discrepancy in ashram fund.
“However, it came to our notice that Swami Damodarananda borrowed money from some devotee, who paid the money on an agreement signed on stamp paper from Sri Bijit Paul. It was also revealed that he managed some fund in his personal name from same devotees from personal influences but not in the name of Bharat Sevashram Sangha,” the statement said.
There were allegations by a section of devotees and other stakeholders, including some prominent citizens who are associated with the Sangha, that the investigation done by a team of monks from across the country was not satisfactory and the team was supporting the accused monk.
But the general secretary refuted such allegations and said the Sangha came to know about the misappropriation before Durga Puja “but the festival was approaching and we had so much work and most of the monks were not in station so we had to wait”.
“It is a shameful act by a monk (Swami Damodarananda) and there is no question of protecting him. We have already removed the person from the position he was holding and frozen the account,” Swami Biswatmananda told The Shillong Times on phone from Kolkata.
According to bank statements, the secretary, BSS, Shillong, Swami Damodarananda is accused of money laundering to the tune of Rs 60 lakh, which has been transferred to Provat Kumar Misra, Juthika Misra and Sumit Misra of Burdwan, West Bengal, from his personal account in a nationalised bank here, and also from other sources.
