that ISKCON Temple at Bangalore is the Property of ISKCON registered in Bangalore in 1978 and this temple has nothing to do with ISKCON registered in Mumbai.
If the statements of his affidavit in #7934/2001 are true then the affidavits filed in # 2180/99, # 4467/2000 & # 1483/2001 are false. They both cannot be true at the same time. One set of statements is false. We maintain that the statements of suit #7934 of October 15, 2001 are false, and the High Court of Karnataka in its verdict has stated exactly the same, that is, that what Madhu Pandit dasa stated on oath in the previous suits 2180/99, 4467/2000 and 1483/2001 is true and therefore Madhu Pandit dasa is only the President of the Bangalore branch of the ISKCON reg. in Mumbai. At any rate, one way or another, Madhu Pandit dasa has committed perjury. For details click here.
And, in its judgment against Madhu Pandit dasa, the High Court of Karnataka noted many instances where Madhu Pandit forged documents, tampered with documents, cooked up documents, manipulated BDA records and temple accounts. For details click here.
From the above we can see that Madhu Pandit dasa has a distinct pattern of criminal behavior that includes but is not limited to lying, deception, cheating, fraud and forgery. He even lies about small things like his educational qualifications.
Considering Madhu Pandit's penchant for duplicity, we therefore simply cannot and do not believe in the words of a proven fraudster and have to double and triple check anything he says. Now let us briefly analyze Madhu Pandit's recent text, "Challenging the Bangalore Correspondent", to see if he follows his established pattern of duplicitous behavior.
In the first 3 paragraphs of his text he gives his side of the story and we are expected to accept whatever he says on face value. I don't think so. In this "he said – they said" scenario I have considerably more faith in my sources than in Madhu Pandit. He is such a pathological liar that even if he told me that the Sun was rising in the East, I would double check to make sure.
In Para 67 the Honorable High Court Judges conclude as under:
"Admittedly, Madhupandit Das and other full time devotees are heading the branch of ISKCON registered in Mumbai at Bangalore. Therefore, Madhupandit Das and other functionaries in their capacity as President and functionaries of ISKCON, Bangalore, as branch of ISKCON registered in Mumbai are entitled to continue to function in accordance with the bye-laws, Rules and Regulations of ISKCON registered in Mumbai. However, it is made clear that their continuance as such shall be subject to the decision to be taken by ISKCON, Mumbai, in accordance with the bye-laws, Rules and Regulations of ISKCON registered in Mumbai."
Bureau officers Braj Hari prabhu and Bhima prabhu passed a resolution to appoint a supervisory committee to check the system of accounts and cash handling of Bangalore temple. On June 3, 2011 the supervisory committee was stopped at the gate by more than 400 hired gundas lead by Madhu Pandit dasa standing in front of the main gate. It must be noted that High Court has directed Madhu Pandit dasa to act according to rules and regulations of ISKCON registered in Mumbai. Supreme Court's interim order came 3 days later, on 6th June, 2011, behind which Madhu Pandit dasa is now trying to hide.
The only possible reason Madhu Pandit dasa stopped the supervisory committee from entering the temple is his fear that his fiduciary malfeasance, misappropriations, and mishandling of cash and accounts would be exposed if the supervisory committee started to function. What is Madhu Pandit hiding? His excuse is that he is afraid that the supervisory committee will destroy important documents. What rubbish. That could easily be avoided by having a notary on hand along with a scanner or Xerox machine and only giving the committee notarized copies of any documents they require, while he keeps the originals. But Madhu Pandit has a lot to hide and could not possibly allow this to happen.
Madhu Pandit dasa is such a shameless person that on June 3rd, he stopped the supervisory committee from entering the Bangalore temple but just four days later, on 7th June, he went to the head office of ISKCON at Mumbai. There, Madhu Pandit dasa met Braj Hari Prabhu and later with Bhima Prabhu, had mahaprasadam at Govinda's restaurant, and had some discussion. Thus by all accounts he was well entertained by Braj Hari dasa and Bhima dasa. So either Braj Hari Prabhu and Bhima Prabhu are great paramhamsas who do not take into account Madhu Pandit dasa's frauds and manhandling of the supervisory committee members sent by them, or his stealing of ISKCON'S property which they are supposed to protect, or Madhu Pandit dasa had come there for something they were also interested to discuss.
We tend to believe that, though they are nice devotees, Bhima Prabhu and Braj Hari Prabhu are not paramhamsas, but they still entertained Madhu Pandit dasa well when he went there to discuss the matter of compromise that they were also interested in. This is an obvious conclusion.
Madhu Pandit interprets the Supreme Court Order
Then in paragraphs 4 and 5, Madhu Pandit gives his "interpretation" of the Supreme Court order. We note that unlike those representing ISKCON, who actually give the reader a copy of the order and do a line-by-line explanation so that the reader can compare the explanation with the order to see if the explanation is a logical outcome of the order, Madhu Pandit doesn't, and freely juggles words to arrive at a predetermined conclusion.
In his explanation, Madhu Pandit dasa blatantly lies and accuses ISKCON of "aggression." But who is the aggressor and thief if not Madhu Pandit? He is the one who filed not one, not two, but four separate lawsuits against ISKCON in his attempts to usurp and steal ISKCON's Bangalore branch as his own property under the umbrella of a bogus defunct society (see above). If the trustees of ISKCON didn't defend this case that Madhu Pandit filed against them, they could be criminally prosecuted for neglect to protect the trust property which under law they are duty bound to do.
In his explanation, Madhu Pandit dasa also accuses ISKCON of "saving face," but who is the one on a major damage control mission here? ISKCON didn't lose in the High Court of Karanataka, Madhu Pandit did, and he suffered a clear, massive and crushing defeat on all counts. A defeat that in the end will result with him having his bhajan kutir at the Tihar jail.
What happened in the Supreme Court on June 6th, 2011 is just standard operating procedure for the Supreme Court, and nothing to crow about. Madhu Pandit dasa is in no way off the hook. He is just separated by time from his ultimate destiny, which is inexorably getting closer, and the noose around his neck is getting a lot tighter.
Madhu Pandit dasa throws down the glove
Then in paragraph six, Madhu Pandit dasa throws down the glove and challenges me about the "family trusts." First of all, why is he challenging me at all? I am just a correspondent. I often just report what others have written and sometimes give my own comments. It would be like challenging Rocana Prabhu to substantiate the content of every article he posts by Mahavidya Prabhu or any other author on Sampradaya Sun.
Secondly, it was the intended purpose of ISKCON's Supervisory Committee to inspect the goings on over at Hare Krsna Hill to make sure everything was in order and above board. Something that Madhu Pandit didn't want to happen. Rather Madhu Pandit, the Prince of Prevarication, says he will prove that everything is above board and we are supposed to lap it up and take his word for it. I was born at night, but not last night!
It was the High Court of Karnataka who stated that Madhu Pandit dasa has made the temple his family business. In Para 70 the High Court has explained how the bogus ISKCON society registered in Bangalore is Madhu Pandit dasa's family business:
"Further, Madhupandit Das, his wife Bhakti Lata Devi Dasi, his co-brother Chanchalapati Das, his wife's sister Chamari Devi Dasi and other close associates cooked up reports specifying the names of these persons as elected office bearers of plaintiff society and filed the same in the office of Registrar of Societies for the first time on 21.08.2001 for the entire period of 12 years from 1989 to 2001. As already stated these reports are cooked up for the purpose of giving life to the defunct plaintiff society."
I heard Chanchalapati dasa say on TV that the reason the family members are named is because back in 1984 or so, there were only 10 devotees in the yatra and thus few to choose from. However, the judge obviously didn't buy into this lie because he noted the documents were all filed on the same day in 2001 and backdated for 12 years. And we note that from 1989 onwards there were more than 40 full time devotees, and by 2001 there were more than 100 full time devotees serving ISKCON Temple at Bangalore -- but Madhu Pandit chose only his wife and her sister and his co-brother, thus it is clear to the observant reader what is actually going on.
Madhu Pandit dasa's birth family
Then in paragraph eight, Madhu Pandit says: "I have not maintained any connection with the family I was born into since I joined ISKCON in 1981."
Upon reading this one can image in the mind's eye that Madhu Pandit dasa after contact with ISKCON left his family because they were karmis who were hostile to Krsna bhakti, and Madhu Pandit never turned back, like Sukadeva Gosvami or something of the sort. But what is the real story?
At the time when Madhu Pandit was initiated (late July, early August 1981), by HH Jayapataka Swami on his first visit to Bangalore, Madhu Pandit dasa's family owned homes in Trivandrum, Kerala, and Bangalore, Karnataka. His older brother practiced Ayurveda in Bangalore and his younger sister was a student of Allopathic Medicine in Trivandrum. His older brother used to regularly come to the temple to treat any ill devotees. On the same day of his initiation, Madhu Pandit's own mother was also initiated by Jayapataka Swami as Puspa devi dasi. They were the only ones initiated on that day.
Shortly after his initiation, Madhu Pandit and a few devotees went to Trivandrum and stayed with his father, Sivasankara Nair, in the family home to start-up preaching activities in Kerala. Though his father was at first not as enthusiastic about Krsna Consciousness as his mother, who was already initiated, his father also became very involved in ISKCON and every year went to Mayapur for the Gaura Purnima festival until his death. Both his parents, especially his mother, were very much involved in ISKCON activities until their deaths. Unfortunately, reports allege that Madhu Pandit was not very respectful and even dismissive of his father, and his mother fared little better than the father. It is alleged that despite her deathbed pleas for Madhu Pandit dasa to come see her before she died, he didn't come. She was not just his mother but a Vaisnavi and his god-sister as well. So maybe this hard-hearted behavior is what Madhu Pandit dasa means when he says he didn't maintain connection with his birth family. In any case, on the face of it his statement is clearly not true, as his parents were both serving ISKCON and his mother was his initiated god-sister. (Note: Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur visited his mother on her deathbed, where she made him promise to fulfill his father's strongly cherished desire to preach Krsna Consciousness in the West.).
We note that while Madhu pandit dasa did not care for his family by birth, he cared for and fully trusted his wife and her family, as can be seen from the control Bhakti Lata has over Temple affairs and the documents Madhu Pandit dasa filed with Registrar of Societies, as pointed out by the Honorable High Court in paragraph 70 of its judgment.
Three hundred devotees stand by Madhu Pandit
In the same paragraph he says: "That is why more than three hundred well educated intelligent devotees dedicated to Srila Prabhupada stand by us as their Temple President and a spiritual leader."
How many of the 300 hundred are from the original crew who built the temple? What happened to all of them? After the completion of the construction project and when they were no longer needed, they were purged by Madhu Pandit dasa after they challenged his leadership by questioning him about the finances and temple management policies. They were either kicked out of the temple outright or made to feel so uncomfortable that they were forced to leave.
Madhu Pandit filled the places of these purged devotees with new people who knew nothing of the previous history, and when the new devotees eventually begin to ask questions they are also purged. For more details click here.
The following text, "A Behind the Scenes Look at the Real Madhu Pandit", shows the real way Madhu Pandit treats devotees and why many of the original crew left him.
Some devotees are forced to stay with Madhu Pandit for economic reasons
"One devotee was telling us a few days ago that many devotees who actually do not support Madhu Pandit Dasa are forced to. We asked ‘how is that? Why don't they just leave him?' He responded that one of Madhu Pandit's tactics is to get young brahmacaris married and especially after they had kids they were stuck with Madhu Pandit for economic reasons. Why? They had been out of the work force for 10+ years and would have a hard time getting a job and now they were weighed down with a wife and kids and no one to employ them except you know who."
Source: MadhuBandit.info.
Empty rhetoric
Then in the third paragraph from the bottom, Madhu Pandit states:
"We are very confident that the unsubstantiated bland and vague allegations of fraud made in the recent High Court judgment against me will also proved to be false in the Supreme Court, when I am heard. As a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution of India, enjoyed by every citizen of this country, I, as an individual, will be challenging through a Petition before the Supreme Court how such findings could be made against me in person, when I was never a party to the suit and conclusions were made about me without hearing me. (The Bangalore Society was the party and not me.)"
Why is he so confidant? Has he already purchased the Supreme Court? Because that is the only way he would be able to win there. If an honest panel of judges hears the case, then he is done for. As we have already seen, honesty and Madhu Pandit dasa is an oxymoron. When the Chief Justice of Karnataka appointed Justice Manjunath, an intelligent and honest judge, to hear the case in the High Court, Madhu Pandit did everything in his power to have him removed from hearing the case. For details click here.
Madhu Pandit makes the disingenuous claim that he is not a party to the suit, but rather the Bangalore Society is. But a few paragraphs earlier Madhu Pandit tells us that he is the President of the temple and its spiritual leader. And of course, in the documents of the bogus society he is the president. But he still claims he is not party to the suit. Now, this may convince the sheep on HKH, but it will not convince anyone with an IQ above 60, what to speak of the courts. It is like saying "it was the stick that killed the cow, not me who was holding the stick."
And Madhu Pandit dasa again shows his shamelessness when he states "and conclusions were made about me without hearing me. " Madhu Pandit had every opportunity to take the stand as a witness and was even listed to do so. But when every witness before him was caught in a network of lies and contradictions and shot down in flames he didn't want to suffer the same fate, though the ISKCON legal team was praying that he would take the stand. The High Court of Karnataka noted Madhu Pandit's absence from the witness box as a fatal omission, noting that the reason Madhu Pandit didn't testify was that the evidence would go against Madhu Pandit.
46. … Though the plaintiff* society mentioned the name of Madhupandit [sic] Das in its list of witnesses filed before the Trial Court, he was not examined. Thus the plaintiff withheld the best evidence with an intention: that if he is examined, his evidence would go against the plaintiff. Non-examination of this important witness Madhupandit Das is fatal to the case of the plaintiff. The Trial Court, without considering these admissions on record committed an illegality in holding that no adverse inference can be drawn against the plaintiff. …
*Plaintiff: a person who brings suit in a court (opposed to defendant) Madhu Pandit and his bogus society are the plaintiffs.
I doubt that the Supreme Court procedure allows for the entry of any new evidence, but if Madhu Pandit wants to get in the witness box, I'm sure that ISKCON's lawyers would gladly entertain his request. Of course, Madhu Pandit will not be allowed to run rough shod over everybody like he did in that Channel 9 news broadcast in English, where he shouted and screamed and in general did not behave like a sadhu, but like the uncultured criminal that he has become. I was expecting that at any moment he would take off his shoe and bang it on the table like Khrushchev did at the UN in 1960—an incident that shamed the USSR. While there were only a few TV sessions in English most were in Kannada, and now the general perception in Bangalore of Madhu Pandit (not ISKCON) is that he is a crook. In these Kannada sessions between Madhu Pandit and Chanchalapati on one side and Varada Krsna dasa on the other, Varada Krsna dasa definitely came off better and Madhu Pandit and Chanchalapati the worse for it. Varada Krsna Prabhu reported that several times in the days following the broadcasts, while he was just walking in the streets of Bangalore people would come to him and shake his hand and express gratitude for his exposing Madhu Pandit as another Ravana in the dress of a sadhu. Madhu Pandit and Chanchalapathi would not dare walk the streets of Bangalore for fear of getting shoes thrown at them. Needless to say, I would not want to be a brahmacari trying to collect money for Madhu Pandit's family business temple now. Reports are that they come back empty handed.
Returning to the point; ISKCON's lawyers will be ecstatic if Madhu Pandit dasa gets into the witness box.
Book distribution lies
While not actually mentioned in this text, there is an oft-repeated lie by Madhu Pandit dasa and his myrmidons that his family business temple in Bangalore distributes the most books in ISKCON. This lie was most recently propagated by Padmagarbha das in his article, "Der Kreide Kreis (The Circle of Chalk)", who said: "Also, the Bangalore devotees, if I am not mistaken, distribute more of Srila Prabhupada's books than all of ISKCON combined."
This is not true. The temple with the biggest book distribution in the world is the Delhi temple, which distributes hundreds of thousands of Gita's during the Christmas marathon alone, what to speak of the rest of the year. Other ISKCON temples in India like Mayapur, Juhu, Chowpatty and Tirupati all distribute more books than Madhu Pandit's family business temple. In fact, book distribution by Madhu Pandit dasa has drastically fallen off because it is not a money maker, like food distribution or real-estate development. Even the ISKCON Jagannatha Mandir in Bangalore distributed more books than Madhu Pandit's men did.
In 2009, the ISKCON Jagannatha Mandir distributed 24,000 books, and that was with Madhu Pandit trying to sabotage their effort by not supplying them with Kannada books until the last 10 days of the marathon. And in the 2010 marathon, the Jagannatha Mandir distributed more than 70,000 big books.
Madhu Pandit became embarrassed because his own people were seeing that ISKCON was out in force distributing books, while they were only claiming to distribute books. So he sent his people out to distribute books, but at double the price that ISKCON was selling for. ISKCON was selling at cost, but Madhu Pandit wanted to make as much profit as possible. In many instances, both parties set up book tables in the same venue, and people sometimes would buy from Madhu Pandit's people first. But when they came to the ISKCON table and saw the very same books at half the price, they got refunds from Madhu's men and bought from ISKCON instead. This correspondent personally witnessed this happen in several venues, especially at the Sanskrit Book Fair that was held in the beginning of January this year. It was reported that in some instances Madhu Pandit's teams just packed up and went home, being unable to compete with ISKCON devotees.
We note that while Madhu Pandit and his followers claim to sell more than everyone combined, they never publish any specific numbers that could be checked with reality. While Madhu Pandit publishes books in Kannada which ISKCON buys from him, thus he can say he sells as many books in that language as he wants to say and it would be difficult to find out if it's true. But he has to buy all other language books (English, Telegu, Tamil, Malayalam, etc.) from the BBT, and they keep account of sales. So let's see some real numbers coming from Madhu Pandit's book sales that can be corroborated.
Why we don't reveal who the Bangalore Correspondent is
On various Rtvik sites, especially those sponsored by Madhu Pandit dasa, there is a lot of consternation about the texts I write, and abuse is hurled my way because I won't reveal my identity. And since I won't reveal my identity, I must be a . Fill in the blank with your choice pejorative adjective.
The reason I don't reveal my identity is simple: Madhu Pandit dasa is not a sadhu and doesn't deal like a sadhu. He is just posing as a devotee:
"After the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, those faithful to Him kept apart from nondevotees, to avoid contamination. Seeing this, the personality of Kali sent his representatives in disguise to pollute the Vaisnava sampradaya. Posing as Vaisnavas, they spread their wicked doctrines, and appeared so intelligent and devoted that only pure devotees could detect their real identity. Most devotees -- not only the most neophyte – were enchanted by their tricks. In this way Kali's agents expertly introduced karma, jnana, and anyabhilasa in the Vaisnava sampradaya and caused suddha-bhakti to vanish from the world." (Sajjana Tosani 18.2.13-14 (1915)
Mahavegavati dd (aka B Govinda), who complained about my not revealing my identity, has a lot of her own complaints about ISKCON's rough treatment of her. She is not the first nor will she be the last. I have also been roughly embraced on more than one occasion. The point I am trying to make is that if you think that you got a bum deal if you disagreed with ISKCON, then you haven't seen anything yet. Try disagreeing with Madhu Pandit dasa… then you will find out what grief is all about.
Varada Krsna Prabhu found out. He was one of Madhu Pandit's main collectors on HKH and was convinced to become a Rtvik, but later he had a falling out with Madhu Pandit and disavowed Rtvik-ism. What was Madhu Pandit's response? One day when Varada Krsna dasa came to have darshan of the Deities in the temple he had raised US $2.5 million to build, he was set upon by the security staff and held. Madhu Pandit dasa gave orders to have Varada Krsna beaten, and beaten he was, to such an extent that Varada Krsna Prabhu was hospitalized. Realizing that he had no reason to have Varada Krsna beaten except his own anger and vindictive nature, Madhu Pandit in cahoots with his "fixer", Ranjit Shankar, hired some prostitutes who falsely claimed to the police that Varada Krsna had molested them while they were at the temple, and for this reason was given a good thrashing. Varada Krsna still has to regularly attend court hearings on this false case against him.
Then there is the case of Bhakta Ratish, who had the misfortune of actually seeing with his own eyes that Madhu Pandit supplied hired goondas with meat and liquor while they were camped out on HKH, waiting for the lower court order back in January 2009. Bhakta Ratish was so shocked by seeing this that he finally came forward and told others what he was an eyewitness to. When his identity was found out, Madhu Pandit put him through hell. In the following excerpt from his police report he describes what happen to his friend, Sanatana dasa:
"After Sanatana Das came, Jaichaitanya Das caught him by his neck and Charukrishna assaulted him on his head hitting him hard with his hand. In the same circumstances of threat that these people are going to assault me and Sanatan, Madhupandit Dasa gave me a draft of the letter which he told me and Sanatan to copy in our handwriting if we wanted to spare ourselves of further physical attacks and confinement."
To read the complete complaint that Bhakta Ratish made to the police, see Is Madhu Pandit dasa a gunda among the Sadhus?" Another text in relation to this episode is Radio Hare Krsna Hill.
As you can plainly see, Madhu Pandit doesn't play nice when you don't agree with him.
If you think Madhu Pandit dasa is a gentle sadhu who wouldn't hurt a fly, then take a look at videos like the Channel 9 News, where Madhu Pandit dasa cannot hide his raging temper as he thunders at those who oppose him. Imagine in your mind's eye what would happen to you if a man with his power, money, connections and fiery temper were to get angry with you.
Of course by the time you read this, Madhu Pandit may have had all these so-called "high octane" (read rajasic and tamasic) videos removed. But I have already downloaded a copy using this website.
The following text, "A Behind the Scenes Look at the Real Madhu Pandit", shows the real way Madhu Pandit treats devotees and why many of the original crew left him. We know what Madhu Pandit does with websites that he doesn't like -- he tries to have the police shut them down.
Of course, his attempts have been futile and these websites are still up, because what they are publishing is true, and speaking the truth can never be a crime or defamation. However, this does give you an indication that Madhu Pandit does not tolerate dissent from his views on anything. I was informed through the grapevine that the webmasters of these sites, whoever they are, reported that there was a large spike in visits to these sites after they were put in the media. As usual, when you try to suppress something you draw attention to it.
And what is the fault of websites like www.ISKCON-BDA.org, www.MadhuBandit.info, and www.akshayapatra-fraud.com? They dare tell the truth about Madhu Pandit dasa and raise important questions about his numerous wrong doings. If Madhu Pandit had his way, he would shut down the Sampradaya Sun and have Rocana Prabhu arrested for publishing texts critical of him. He can't do this because it is outside of Indian legal jurisdiction.
Madhu Pandit dasa much prefers places like his own personal site, where he can indulge in narcissistic self-praise. We note that the first postings to this site were made after Madhu Pandit's total defeat in the High Court of Karnataka.
Conclusion
Since I prefer to keep my good health, and do not want to be kidnapped or beaten, nor be arrested by the police and harassed in the courts, all at the instigation of Madhu Pandit dasa, my identity shall remain undisclosed.
We have provided abundant evidence that Madhu Pandit dasa has lied in the past, even in sworn affidavits to the courts. And, we have shown how the present text he has written is full of lies, half-truths, obfuscations and sins of omission. And we can extrapolate from the current trajectory of Madhu Pandit's life that in the future, he will do the same. (We anticipate a "smoke and mirrors" bomb hurled at us in response to this text.) He simply cannot be trusted; he has no honor and is shameless. The lesson to be learnt from Madhu Pandit's employment of Machiavellian tactics is that they only work on trusting and unsuspecting victims. If the victim survives your first strike, it will be difficult to deceive them again; the same goes for those who witnessed your actions. You will never be trusted again.
Madhu Pandit dasa has proved himself to be a very intelligent and cunning person, but wholly without wisdom, for a wise person would never have chosen such a path as this. There is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. The intelligent think they know everything, but the wise realize the depths of their own ignorance. Al Capone was the most powerful mobster of his time; it took great intelligence and ability to run his syndicate. But a wise person would prefer poverty and obscurity rather than choosing the path that Capone took.
Click here to get a copy of the Judgment of the High Court of Karnataka.
