Odisha police wakes up to FIR against god man 5 yrs late!

Reported by Santosh Jagdev
Bhubaneswar, Sep 2:

A Danish national, who had filed an FIR against Swami Shakarananda Giri, head of the Kriya Yoga ashram and founder of the Prabhujee English Medium School at VSS Nagar in the Odisha capital, in 2010 accusing him of duping him of Rs 3 crore, today submitted documents related to the case at the Sahid Nagar police station .

Allen Franklin Nielsen, the Danish nationa who says he came in contact with Shankarananda at a religious seminar in Denmark in 1991, had lodged an FIR against Giri, the latest in a long list of self-proclaimed god men in the state to invite media spotlight in the recent past for carrying out illegal and immoral activities in the garb spiritualism, in February 2010 charging him of defrauding him and threatening him with life when he demanded his money back. But he said no action was taken by the police against the influential Baba.

“Though police registered a case following my complaint, no action was taken against the influential godman for duping me of about 320,000 euro in phases between 2000 and 2010,” he told media persons here.

As no action was taken against him, Nielsen filed another cheating complaint against the godman at the same police station in May 2015.

“We filed a fresh FIR against the godman after gathering additional information to make our case strong,” said Nielsen’s lawyer Laxminarayan Rayatsingh told OST.

“We received a call from Sahid Nagar police station last evening asking us to come with documents relevant to the case. Accordingly, we came and submitted the documents today,” Rayatsingh said.

According to Rayatsingh, his client, a founding member of the organisation, had contributed the money in Euros for the setting up of Kriya Yoga ashrams at various places. “But when he came to know about the nefarious activities of Shankarananda Giri, he asked him to refund the amount. But instead of returning the money, Giri threatened him with dire consequences. He even hinted that my client could be bumped off,” Rayatsingh said.

Shankarananda Giri has been accused of grabbing about four acres of government land at various locations in Bhubaneswar to set up a chain of Kriya Yoga ashrams in the city.

Besides, there are allegations of sexual misdemeanour against him and his close associate Kalikananda Giri.

Meanwhile, Shankarananda Giri was spotted in the company of a foreigner lady at a hotel in Chandikhol this morning, He and a disciple of his were staying in Room No 207 while the foreigner woman was staying in Room 209 of Mid-East Hotel in Chandikhol. They had checked into the hotel on the evening of August 31, according to the occupancy register in the hotel.

As word spread about Shankarananda Giri staying in the hotel spread in the area, a large crowd of curious onlookers, who had seen his visage on TV  last night, gathered outside the hotel. But Giri and the foreigner lady managed to slip away towards Bhubaneswar in an  Innova car (OD 02 V 1209)