The Probortak Samgha is going through the legal process to cancel the agreement with ISKCON, alleging grabbing of land, embezzlement of money donated by devotees of the Krishna Temple.
Tinkari Chakraborty, general secretary of the Probortak Samgha, made the allegations at a press conference on Saturday morning at the Bangabandhu Hall auditorium of the Chattogram Press Club.
ISKCHON, an organization of the Hindu devotees, built a temple on the Probortak Hill under Panchlaish police station in Chattogram. Probortak Samgha donated the land on a mutual agreement to ISKHON for building the temple. But now Probortak Samgha alleged that ISKHON was grabbing their land violating the agreement by force.
In a written statement at the press conference, he said Advocate Rana Dasgupta, Convener of Hindu, Bodhua, Christan Ukkoya Porishod convened a conciliation meeting in Dhaka on April 2 in the wake of verbal pleas from both the Probortak Samgha and ISKCON to settle the land dispute. But ISKCON authorities were not present.
In this situation, on 13-16 May, ISKCON inaugurated the newly constructed Pravartak Sri Krishna Mandir without the participation of the officials of Probortak Samgha.
ISKCON has already wiped out the inner staircase from the Probortak Samgha compound of the temple. They have occupied the non-contractual areas around the temple. They have removed a century-old tree adjacent to the security checkpoint inside on the way to the temple from the Bayazid Bostami road. This is eroding the soil of the hill. A case has been filed with the Chittagong court on June 8 accusing some ISKCON members from the Probortak Samgha in these incidents, he alleged.
Tinkari Chakraborty said the decision was taken on the basis of the consensus of the Hindu community of Chattogram on March 30 - the agreement with ISKCON should be cancelled for anti-Probortak activities as per the terms of the joint agreement.
Therefore, the Probortak Samgha has completed preparations to take legal action to cancel the agreement. For the security of the Probortak land and officers-employees, the Sangha board of directors is appealing for the deployment of armed Ansar.
He further said that using the name ISKCON, the utility services including electricity, gas and water have been connected with fake documents without the concern of the Probortak Samgha. The Probortak Samgha has appealed to the departments to disconnect the connections. Besides, a complaint was lodged against ISKCON on June 16 to the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC) by Probortak Samgha.
Tinkari Chakraborty also said, according to the complaint, the ISKCON authority has no account of how much money was spent on the construction of the Sri Krishna Temple. According to the agreement, the Probortak -ISKCON joint temple management committee convened a meeting and asked the secretary of the committee to show the accounts and documents in support of the construction of the temple.
Advocate Subhash Chandra Lala, President of the Probortak Samgha, Prof Ranjit Kumar Dey, Vice-President, Treasurer Dr Sriprakash Biswas, Member Advocate Swabhu Prasad Biswas, Chandan Dhar were also present in the press conference.
