SHILLONG: The accused monk of Bharat Sevashram Sangha (BSS), Shillong and former secretary, Swami Damodarananda, also known as Amit Maharaj, has been issued notice under Section 41(A) CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) in a money laundering case against him, police said on Thursday.
Police said a notice under Section 41(A) has been issued to Swami Damodarananda which demands that he should appear before the investigating officer.
If he fails to appear, the matter will be taken up in court. Informing that Section 41(A) allows the respondent some time to reply, police said if he (Swami Damodarananda) continues to remain at large then it becomes a “non-bailable offence” and “he will be picked up from wherever he is right now”.
Meanwhile, sources claimed that Swami Damodarananda was seen in the city recently and had a meeting with some of his associates, lawyers and others at Laban. Swami Damodarananda misappropriated around Rs 60lakh which was collected by BSS, Shillong over the years as public donations. It is being alleged that his father and mother — Provat Kumar Misra and Juthika Misra of Burdwan, West Bengal — were the direct beneficiaries of these fund transfers.
Following these revelations and other grave anomalies committed by Swami Damodarananda, the BSS headquarters in Kolkata convened a special governing body meeting on November 10 last year and the accused monk was expelled from the organisation with immediate effect.
The decision was taken after members of the governing body and senior monks of BSS, Kolkata visited Shillong on November 2 and 3, 2018, and met the stakeholders.
In his new FIR on March 4 this year, the secretary of BSS, Swami Purnabratananda, alleged that he had a savings bank account with Vijaya Bank, Police Bazar, which was opened for ashram related activities. The passbook, cheque book and ATM of this Account number 850101011001030 was in the possession of Swami Damodarananda since he was the secretary then and responsible for all financial transactions and keeping these documents with him seemed logical to Swami Purnabratananda for easy operation of the account and also because he has to travel constantly. He even signed a few cheques and kept them with Swami Damodarananda for easy banking transactions in his absence.