ISKCON's Cover-up of Tattva Darshan's Dark History

BY: SUN STAFF

Mar 13, CANADA (SUN) — ISKCON's knowledge of Tattva Darshan's pedophilia prior to recent Cambodia arrest.

Under cover of anonymity, a devotee provides the following information about Tattva Darshan dasa:


"The worst thing is that ISKCON has been aware of Tattva Darshan's pedophilia pastimes for years but he has remained "in good standing" and as an ISKCON authority all this time. He even runs a "charitable" school for poor children on the ISKCON farm near Kollur. The following letter from Hari Sauri das shows that ISKCON has long known about these illegal activities, but only acts against him when their own image may be spoiled. Abhirama dasa was the GBC of Tattva Darshan and in charge of the Kollur farm and ISKCON temple. Many local devotees have the same complaints against him, but the GBC probably won't say anything until one day when the Cambodian police catch him as well.

From an anonymous devotee who worked with Tattva Darshan for years:

1) Tattva Darshan was caught by the police in Mangalore a few years ago having illicit sex with two boys and two girls less than 13 years of age in his Tata 407 truck near Kodialbail, Mangalore.

He tried to run over a policeman and escape, the policeman jumped into a ditch and got injured. Tattva's van was chased by two police jeeps and the police blocked all roads and caught him after two kilometres.

He was taken to the police station and beaten badly for 4 hours.

He had dropped the kids at a junction near Kodialbail. This was confirmed to me by attendants at a nearby petrol pump, who had seen Tattva dropping the kids off. The auto drivers who had seen also told me that he did such things regularly at a large open ground in Mangalore.

The police dropped the case after talking to Ramananda prabhu, because 'the institution's name would be spoiled'.

This story was reported in the local paper with Tattva's photo.

2) One young girl was found dead, hanging from a tree near Bhaktivedanta Eco Village (an ISKCON project for which Tattva Darshan is President) a few years ago and she was also pregnant.

The local people say that she was killed for having a sexual relationship with Tattva and becoming pregnant.

3) Last year a devotee teenage girl died in suspicious circumstances. Her name was Tulasi.

4) Tattva constantly maintains a girl named ***** and her sisters at the Kollur ISKCON Ashram. They are kept there for sexual purposes. Many people are aware of this and have seen things first hand.

5) There are also people in Kollur who complain that Tattva sells drugs like ganja to specific customers and entertains hippies on the Kudachadri hill with drugs and girls.

Ramananda prabhu knows more about him. We cut off with him after the police case in Mangalore.


Letter from Hari Sauri Das:

    Dear Bhakta prabhu,

    Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

    I read your comments about the Tattva Darshan case and I understand why you have reacted in the way that you have, considering the ordeal that you had to suffer. I supported you in that, at least morally even if I couldn't do anything practical to help. I felt you had been a victim of a frame-up and I had no qualms in coming forward to say so.

    Tattva Darshan's case is however different and I would like to explain why.

    I just got off the phone with the president of Actions Pour Les Enfants (APLE) the NGO that got the police in Cambodia to arrest TDd. It turns out this man lives in Kolkata. He knows the devotees and has visited Mayapur.

    He couldn't give the case file because it is going to court, but he gave me some details of the case. He assured me the arrest was not a set-up. They have been tracking TDd for the last 15 months, whenever he comes into Cambodia. Its a small place and there are only 2-3 places where these kinds of activities go on. Finally they felt able to act and were able to get the police in. TDd was found in a room with two girls, one 12 and the other 16. All of them were naked. The girls had just performed oral sex on him and he was just putting on a condom when the cops came in. He has now been charged with debauchery, which is the legal offence there. He will be remanded and the case will come to court in about six months.

    An American law enforcement agency, ICE (Immigration, Customs and Enforcement) based in Bangkok, has also been following the case. According to them an FBI check showed that TDd was involved in the 1970-80s in Florida with car stealing, burglary and illegal real estate deals.

    ICE sometimes apply for extradition to America for a trial there but in this case they have decided to let the Cambodian authorities deal with it.

    APLE are confident that the case will go to court and they are sure of their facts.

    Incidently I also got a call from the Times of India this afternoon, about two hours after I had sent and email to APLE asking for details on the case. They wanted to know what connection BEV has with ISKCON. I told him that we have no legal connection but that some ISKCON devotees do work with BEV. So like it or not, this case is already in the papers and that is why I took the step I did in alerting our ISKCON leaders.

    I also interviewed a disciple of Bhakti Raghava Swami this morning, called Hrday Caitanya dasa, who has been living in Cambodia and who is based in Mangalore on the BEV there. He confirmed most of what Dharma told me.

    Around 1994 TDd was caught by his own son having sex with a 16 yrs. old servant girl. That is a known fact. The age of consent in India is 18 so that constitutes child abuse.

    In around 2000, a newspaper reporter sprang TDd in the back of a large van with blackened windows sexually molesting some young kids. The reporter called the police, TDd did a runner and by the time the police caught up with him the van was empty. They took him to the police station but couldn't charge him with anything. As I understand it, a result of this incident, which was published in the local newspapers, TDd was removed from any official ISKCON position in Mangalore.

    Now this case has come up. Join the dots and see where they lead. I hope you can now understand why I felt it was important to make sure that he doesn't get away with this kind of stuff again.

    Your humble servant,
    Hari-sauri dasa


So the GBC knew about child molestation in Mangalore but did NOTHING for 14 years!

I would like to comment on one of the statements found in Hari Sauri's letter about Tattva Darshana dasa.

First, he states in regards to a 2000 incident where Tattva Darshan was caught molesting children in his vehicle: "As I understand it, a result of this incident, which was published in the local newspapers, TDd was removed from any official ISKCON position in Mangalore."

What he doesn't mention is that at that time Tattva Darshan Dasa was the President of three centers:

    1)The Mangalore ISKCON temple: He used the brahmacaris at this temple to collect donations for his "farm project", the Bhaktivedanta Eco Village, which was actually registered as a personal trust. This means he collected money using an ISKCON temple and ISKCON devotees, but channeled that money into a private trust controlled by himself and his main backer, Abhirama dasa. Of course the GBC were aware of this but didn't care at all and let him ruin the Mangalore temple and the sincere devotees serving in that temple. Many of those devotees now hate ISKCON because of the things they saw, which the GBC kept covering up when they reported.

    2) The second ISKCON center Tattva Darshan was in charge of was the Kollur Garuda Guha ashram. This was always listed as an official ISKCON temple in BBT books, but appears to actually be owned by Tattva Darshan dasa and Abhirama dasa, through their private trust. A lot of ISKCON money was funneled into this ashram. This is where many of the illicit activities occurred with Tattva Darshan dasa and Abhirama dasa. The GBC has been aware of these activities for more than 14 years, and in fact all the devotees in Karnataka have been aware of these activities for just as long. Yet the GBC never cared that their leaders were allegedly engaged in child molestation. We aren't talking about one or two cases… these cases have been going on for 14 years nonstop, and everyone knows about it. Still the GBC never acted against any of them until the Cambodian police caught one of them, fearing it may "bring a bad name" to ISKCON.

    3) The third ISKCON center Tattva Darshan was in charge of was the farm, Bhaktivedanta Eco Village, located a couple hours from the Kollur ashram. This farm also received a lot of ISKCON money from the Mangalore temple, but the farm is actually owned by Tattva Darshan dasa and Abhirama dasa through a private trust. Again, the GBC has always known this but never cared about it.

Now what is significant about Tattva Darshan Dasa being President of these three ISKCON centers is that after being caught sexually abusing children in his jeep, he was removed as President from JUST ONE OF THESE THREE TEMPLES!!!!!!!!

Again, please read Hari Sauri dasa's statement:

    "As I understand it, a result of this incident, which was published in the local newspapers, TDd was removed from any official ISKCON position in Mangalore."

Tattva Darshan dasa, after being caught sexually molesting children in his jeep, was removed as President from ONLY the Mangalore ISKCON temple. He remained the President of the Kollur ashram and the farm project, both of which are listed as official ISKCON centers, even today.

Please note that Tattva Darshan dasa's farm project is still listed as an official ISKCON center, and has always been listed as such. The following is the listing from the BBT's Krishna.com ISKCON temple list:

And this one comes from the official ISKCON.com website, listing ISKCON temples in Asia:

You can also find his centers printed in the backs of all BBT books that contain a list of ISKCON temples.

You can see here that Tattva Darshan dasa's name is listed as President on their official website even today (he was never removed from his position after being caught molesting children, nor was the center removed from ISKCON's official temples list):

In one of their older webpages, they mention the land is owned by a trust with Abhirama dasa being the President of the trust and Tattva Darshan dasa being the Vice President/Secretary of the trust:

So clearly, from beginning till end, Tattva Darshana has been in control of this ISKCON project and the GBC have never had any problems with the illicit activities that have been reported to them numerous times.

The only reason he was removed as President of the Mangalore temple was because the local devotees there refused to continue to work with him. If they did not object to him being in charge, the GBC would have kept him as President of Mangalore temple as well, despite him being caught sexually abusing children in his jeep!

Doesn't this shock you? That the GBC doesn't care if their leaders sexually abuse young children?"



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