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EDITORIAL December 14, 1999 VNN5075 Comment on this story Adridharan's Fabricated Report To Malign Mayapur Management BY NAMES WITHHELD EDITORIAL, Dec 14 (VNN) — Dear devotees, Pamho. Agtsp. Please read the following & then our questions to Adri (IRG Leader). Text COM:2850154 (16 lines) From: Hari Sauri (das) ACBSP Date: 12-Dec-99 07:19 +0530 To: Abhirama (das) ACBSP (Mayapur Development) [13201] To: Naresvara (das) ACBSP (Sydney - AU) [15678] To: GBC Discussions [9083] To: ICC (Indian Continental Committee) [2452] To: MAC Mayapur (Administrative Council) [414] Attached: MadhavaK.zip (9909 bytes) "Report on Mk suicide" Subject: Final report on the suicide of Madhava Krishna dasa ------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Maharaja's and prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! Many devotees have been disturbed by a 'report' posted by Adridharana dasa concerning the death of a Delhi devotee, Madhava Krishna dasa, here in Mayapur on November 16 1999. The accusations in that 'report' were so serious, and the presentation of events so misleading, that we felt it necessary to present the actual events of the case in a complete report. That report is attached as a file to this letter. Please download it and read it carefully. If anyone has any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact myself. Your humble servant, Hari-sauri dasa (Text COM:2850154) ----------------------------------------- Dear Maharajas and Prabhus, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada! A recent posting on this and other conferences by Adridharana dasa of Calcutta regarding the death in Mayapur of a Delhi devotee, Madhava Krishna dasa, in unfortunate circumstances, cast very serious aspersions on the managers of Sri Mayapur Chandrodaya Mandir, and in particular one of the co-Directors, Sriman Dayaram prabhu. The posting of Adridharana was dated November 22 1999. I heard about Madhava Krishna's death on November 17 while I was in Vrindavana. I arrived back in Mayapur on November 22 and an investigation was conducted by myself, Hari-sauri dasa, over the next two weeks, after some preliminary inquiries on November 23-24 by a group consisting of HH Jayapataka Swami, Abhirama prabhu, Naresvara prabhu and myself. There was some delay in presenting this report due to waiting for the official post-mortem report from the Krsnanagar police. Such reports usually take a long time but we are hopeful to receive it within the next week. In the meantime, to quell the rumors and speculation that has circulated throughout our ISKCON community, I present here the facts of the case and conclusions drawn from it: On 22-Nov-1999, Adridharan Das presented a "report" to the ICC COM conference on the death of Madhava Krishna Das which has been subsequently widely disseminated in cyberspace by many devotees, many believing it to be true. As this report will show, most of his statements, reported as "facts" by him, are simply repetitions of wild rumors or just plain wrong. Since what Adridharana wrote is accusative and seriously misleads the reader as to what actually happened, it is necessary in this report to both answer his statements and present the reality of the case: [Adridharana's comments are enclosed in speech marks " " ] "1) A few days before Gopasatami, a devotee by the name of Madhva Krishna Das, a disciple of H H Gopa Krishna Maharaja visited Sri Mayapur Dham. He had come from the Dehli temple." The above is true. Guest House records show that Madhava Krishna Das turned up in ISKCON Mayapur on 10th November. He took a room in Gada Building (Room 106) and stayed there. "2) Before he arrived Dehli temple had informed Mayapur that he was coming and that he was actually a thief who should be apprehended." This is the first of many falsehoods represented as fact. Nobody told any leader in Mayapur about Madhava Krishna on or before 10th November. It was not until November 15th that Dayaram prabhu was contacted by Delhi temple authorities about Madhava Krishna Das's activities. Three or four calls were received, at approx. 11 am, 1 pm and again later in the afternoon. One of the callers was Janardana prabhu, HH Gopal Krishna Goswami's secretary and another, a devotee called Devaki-something or other (I am sorry we didn't get his full name and I have been waiting for a report from Delhi which still hasn't come). In these calls Dayaram prabhu was informed of the following about Madhava Krishna dasa: * Madhava Krishna Das had stolen approx Rs 80,000 from a girl that he was supposed to marry. * Madhava Krishna Das had also run up a bill of approx. 1.5 lakhs with a travel agent in ISKCON's name. * He flew down to Bombay with his fiance and her parents at ISKCON's expense, supposedly to meet his father. On arrival he then fabricated a story that unfortunately his father had had an accident and could not come to meet them. * He had cheated a jeweller for approx. Rs 70--80,000. * He had claimed falsely that his mother was a minister in the government with a big house in Greater Kailash. * He had unauthorizedly run up bills estimated to be approx. 3-4 lakhs. [Note: Since Madhava Krishna Das's death we have received two calls from Vrindavan, one from Debashish an ex-ISKCON devotee, claiming that Madhava Krishna had run up bills with traders there of over Rs 60,000; and another from one Dinesh, a Vrindavana trader, claiming that Madhava Krishna owed him approx Rs 20,000] Dayaram was requested to apprehend Madhava Krishna and interogate him. Dayaram declined and instead advised the Delhi callers that they could do one of two things. Either they could file an FIR [First Information Report, given to police to initiate legal action] in Delhi, send a copy to Mayapur and with that he could have the police arrest him. Or, he could hold Madhava Krishna in Mayapur and the Delhi temple could send their own men to come and pick him up and take him back to Delhi to face charges. Janardana requested that he be held and stated that someone would come by train on the Rajdhani the next day, November 16 to bring Madhava Krishna back to Delhi. "3) Upon arrival he was immediately apprehended by Dayarama Das with the assistance of some brahmacharis." "Upon arrival" is false. Madhava Krishna simply took a room in the Gada Building and was there for five days. After phone calls on 15th November, Dayaram prabhu saw Madhava Krishna in the temple during the evening prayers to Lord Damodar. He questioned him in the temple room about certain things Madhava Krishna had claimed, which he now knew from the Delhi devotees to be false e.g. that Madhava Krishna was going to be sent to Canada because his family was from there and Gopal Krishna Maharaja wanted him to go there. When Madhava Krishna repeated this false claim to Dayaram, Dayaram was satisfied that he was a liar. He did not however, directly confront him about nor even mention to him the charges of stealing. He simply left him in the temple room and then requested the General Manager, Nitai Prasada dasa, and his own personal secretary, Jagadartiha dasa, to arrange for Madhava Krishna to be kept under watch in a room with attached bathroom in the Chakra Building. Jagadartiha subsequently approached Madhava Krishna in the temple room at about 7.45 PM with the head of our security guards. He introduced himself as Dayaram's secretary and requested him to please accompany him to the general manager's office. Madhava Krishna willing complied without complaint. On arrival at the office Nitai Prasad informed him that there were charges against him concerning some fraudulent activity in Delhi. He told him that his guru maharaja, Gopal Krishna Goswami had requested that he be kept in Mayapur until someone from Delhi could come to take him back there. Madhava Krishna did not deny the charges but rather he was immediately crest-fallen and contrite. He seemed very sorry and his whole reaction indicated that he realized he had been caught. Nitai Prasad informed him that they wanted him to remain in a guest house room for the next 1-2 days until the Delhi devotees arrived. Madhava Krishan willing complied with their request and Jagadartiha and two guards escorted him to Room 225 of the Long Building. The whole session took about 5 mins. Madhava Krishna was thus confined at about 9.00 PM on the evening of the 15th November. "4) He was then taken to room 205 in the Long Building where he was systematically beaten to a pulp by Dayarama and the other devotees." This claim is totally false: Room 205 is Giri Govardhan Das's Construction Office. Madhava Krishna was taken to room 225, which is a four-bedded guest house room with attached bathroom. Dayrama prabhu had instructed Jagadartiha that he should be tied so as to prevent him from either absconding or doing something foolish. Madhava Krishna was thus given a seat to sit on and his hands were tied with a cotton rope behind his back and then the rope was tied to the window grill. A guard was posted outside to keep a check on him. Madhava Krishna was not in anyway threatened because there was no need. He offered no resistence but seemed to be resigned to his fate. Nobody beat Madhava Krishna in anyway, what to speak of him being "systematically beaten to a pulp". Dayaram prabhu never went to room 225. At about 9.30 PM Nitai Prasad went to see Madhava Krishna. Seeing his repentful mood he spent some time with him, asking him about the accusations and preaching to him. He felt a little sorry for him because he had the appearance of a well-dressed, respectable brahmin. Madhava Krishna confessed that the charges were all true. He was almost crying and distressed that he had cheated his spiritual master from the very beginning, and many others also. He told Nitai Prasad that he had cheated his parents even before becoming a devotee and for this reason his parents had kicked him out and he thus had no place with them anymore. He was very aggrieved at what he had done and was in a confessional mood. He told Nitai Prasada that he had wanted to marry a girl, Iccha Arora, but he only cheated her instead. He took her check book and with that he purchased two cell phones for Rs.55,000. However, when the bank received the check from the vendor, they refused to cash it because the signature did not match. [About 4 days after Madhava Krishna's death, the cell phone vendor actually came to Mayapur and he showed Nitai Prasada the bounced check. He knew Iccha Arora. He told Nitai Prasad that from the cell phones he had traced some numbers that Madhava Krishna had called. One was the number of a sari shop. The cell phone man contacted them and discovered that Madhava Krishna had been negotiating to buy a sari worth four lakhs.] Nitai Prasad preached to him about the real purpose of Srila Prabhupada's movement and asked him why he was doing all these nonsense things. Madhava Krishna had no real answer and simply listened, feeling very remorseful. This meeting lasted about 40 minutes. When Nitai Prasad left, he instructed the guard to untie Madhava Krishna if he requested to used the bathroom and he also told another devotee to give him some prasadam and that he should be untied for that. At about 10.30 PM Jagadartiha prabhu went to see him. He was feeling some compassion for him and was friendly. He also preached to Madhava Krishna and he brought him some sweets from the Jagannath mandir along with some muri (puffed rice). He was released while he ate the sweet and he also went to the bathroom. Madhava Krishna asked if he could speak with Dayaram prabhu but Jagadartiha told him it was too late at night and he didn't want to disturb him. He also told him that he was going to Calcutta early in the morning so he would not be able to meet with Dayaram. He suggested he write a letter instead. So Madhava Krishna was supplied pen and paper and he wrote a letter to Dayaram. Jagadartiha didn't wait but instructed the guard to bring him the letter when Madhava Krishna had finished. Jagadartiha asked Madhava Krishna if he wanted to lay on the bed to sleep but Madhava Krishna declined and so Jagadartiha told the guard to again tie him as before after he had finished writing. When Jagadartiha left he specifically told the guard not to mistreat Madhava Krishna and made it clear that if Madhava Krishna wanted to speak with him, the guard was to call him immediately. The letter was subsequently given to Jagadartiha at about 11.15 PM. He didn't read it but later gave the letter to Nitai Prasad at about 3.15 AM. He rose at 2 AM to get ready to go to Calcutta and checked on Madhava Krishna through the window. Madhava Krishna was seated and nodding off to sleep. "5) Later he was transferred to room 207 where the beating continued." This is again another completely false statement. Firstly, Room 207, like room 205, is an office of Sri Mayapur Project's Construction Office under the care of Upendra Das, to which neither Dayarama prabhu nor Mayapur temple management nor Guest House management have access. Madhava Krishna was transferred to Room 227 a smaller two-bedded room without an attached bathroom at about noon on the following day, November 16, because the guest house manager informed the devotees that Room 225 was booked for guests. Madhava Krishna was well though still depressed and offered no objection to moving rooms. Again there was no forced used by anyone at any stage. "6) Dayarama and the other devotees have alleged that as a result of the beatings, the devotee gave a confession letter, admitting to the stealing, and begging forgiveness for having stolen from Vaisnavas." This is another falsehood. No devotee in Mayapur connected with this case has "alleged that as a result of the beatings the devotee gave a confession letter..." because there was no beating in the first place. At guru puja on the morning of November 16 Nitai Prasad handed the letter to Dayaram prabhu in the temple room. Dayaram didn't read it immediately but folded it up and put it in his pocket. It was Gopastami day and he was preoccupied with the festival and many other managerial matters demanding his attention. It wasn't until about 1 PM that he finally looked at it while he was walking over to the goshalla for the Gopastami pujas. This letter is in our possession and the contents reads as follows: Respected Prabhuji (H.G. Dayaram Das) P.A.M.H.O. A.G.T.S.P. I am writing this personal letter to you, because I am in a very bad state. I did a lot of mistakes in the past for which I have no relation with my parents or relatives because I have cheated them. When I had no place to go I came to ISKCON New Delhi and took shelter there. But my cheating propensity took the better of me again and I lied to every one including my Guru Maharaj from the very beginning. I took initiation from Guru Maharaj within a period of one year as I had pleased every one in the temple with my service and sadhana. I was made director of P.R. and communication representative, given an office to work from and was given a lot of importance and credit. I also worked for I.Y.F. and New Bhakta proggramme. Every one had faith in me and I cheated them by acting as if I am very rich and from a very good family background. I used to always bluff but had a strong desire for devotional life and I tried to serve Guru Maharaja to the best of my ability. I became very famous among the congregation also and then one of my Godsister's daughter whom I knew from the beginning p "I had to escape from Delhi, but I did not know where to go - because I could not be away from the Supreme Lord's shelter, and though I had Rs 25000/- with me and I had bought Karmi clothes - I could have stayed anywhere else, but my longing for being in association of devotees got me to Mayapur. Lot of people know me in Mayapur and I knew I would be caught but I was trying to communicate with some Maharaj - who could communicate with my Guru Maharaj - but because H.H. Jayapataka Maharaja wasn't here I did not know what to do. I know my Guru Maharaj will never forgive me because I told him lies from the very beginning but still I wanted him to know the actual truth of my life - before I could commit suicide and end my life. I wanted to visit Jaggannath Puri and end my life there. But Narsingh Bhagawan desired otherwise and I got caught. I don't know what should be done. You are the 1st one in ISKCON whom I am writing the real truth of my life. Please let my Guru Maharaj know this. "I did not misuse any of ISKCON money ever, but I only misused ISKCON's name for the last one month to cover all the lies I told people earlier. "The girl has been very badly cheated by me. So has everyone who has come to my life. Y/servant Madhubrata Dass (Dam?) (I am not using my spiritual name as I am not capable of using it) [END] From the contents of this sad letter it is clear that Madhava Krishna was severly distressed due to his own activities. Had Dayaram prabhu read the letter as soon as he received it, or taken action up reading it, a tragedy could perhaps have been averted. As fate would have it, that was not to be. Because he was busy with the Gopastami festival and because he knew that Madhava Krishna was secured and guarded in the guest house, the significance of Madhava Krishna's words did not have immediate impact on him. "7) The next morning he was found hanging from the ceiling in room 207." Madhava Krishna was alive and well throughout the morning of 16th November. He took his breakfast prasadam and a guard designated to keep a watchful eye on him reported that he was fine. He was transferred to room 227 at about 1.10 PM. The guard took a stool from room 225 and seating Madhava Krishna on that with his back to the window, he secured his hands individually on either side of him to the window grill. He did not however tie the ropes very tightly. As a consequence as soon as he was left alone, Madhava Krishna untied the ropes; we presume with his teeth. Placing the stool on the bed and standing on that, he used the same rope to hang himself with. His body was found hanging from the ceiling fan at about 2.10 PM. Dayaram prabhu, who was still at the Goshalla, was immediately informed. "8) The story was given that the devotee had committed suicide due to the shame of having been apprehended as a thief, and his confession letter became therefore in fact a de facto suicide note." As we see from Madhava Krishna's letter to Dayaram prabhu, he clearly admitted that: (1) he had in fact come to Mayapur to speak with some Maharaja like Jayapataka Maharaja to somehow figure out how to deal with his offenses, (2) he had also thought of going to Jagannath Puri to commit suicide, because of his feeling of guilt over his cheating devotees in the Delhi temple. This confession was not a "story" but the actual fact. "9) The Police were called, paid the usual bribes, and the body was immediately burnt." This is again yet another falsehood. Here are the facts. When the guard saw the body he immediately informed the Guest House manager Narugopalananda prabhu, who then informed the police. He filed an FIR (first information report) to the Nabadwip police. It took them several hours to arrive. One policeman with two doms (a class of man that handle dead bodies) came and were shown the body, still hanging from the ceiling fan. The policeman informed a devotee, Nimai dasa, who was present that at first glance he was a little suspicious because in such cases the body usually discharges either stool, urine or semen. Because there was no apparent discharge the police man did not have the body cut down immediately. However, when he instructed the doms to closely inspect the body it was found that there was indeed a discharge of semen ("virya-pata"). The policeman then told Nimai that he was satisfied it was a genuine suicide and he instructed the doms to cut it down. The body was then taken to Nabadwip police station. By this time it was nightfall and the body was kept overnight by the Navadvipa police. Later in the morning of November 17 it was transferred to Krsnanagar for a post-mortem. In the late of the day, the police, having completed their post-mortem, then rang Mayapur and requested the devotees to take it away for cremation. The devotees complied and the body was subsquently burnt in the late evening at about 10 or 10.30 PM at the Navadvipa crematorium. From the above anyone can understand that the police had the body in their custody for almost a full day and a night. Had there been any foul play, any kind of beatings, there was ample time for them to see it. Adridharana has used the term "beaten to a pulp." Had this been so, the police would surely have questioned this at the time of receiving the body. Yet the receiving officer stated that he had no reason to be suspicious. Although we are still waiting for the police postmorem report which can taken some time in India for the police to produce, we are confident that no such evidence will emerge because it simply did not occur. "10) The incident has cause a big split in Mayapur with most of the western devotees horrified at what has happened." "The above are the facts of the case, which are well known to anyone in Mayapur." While it is true that many devotees have expressed horror at what they have been informed was "facts" from Adridharana's report, it simply goes to show that without proper ascertainment of real facts, hearing gossip through an opaque and biased medium isn't very helpful. "However the following facts, which indicate that actually something very underhand has happened, are not generally well known:" "a) It seems very unlikely that a devotee who has just stolen from other devotees would immediately go and visit Mayapur, and that the authorities would know exactly what his movements were. This would seem strange behaviour from a thief trying to evade detection. Thus it seems that the 'thief' story is merely a cover for something else, and that somebody somewhere needed him removed from the scene." Here we see under the guise of presenting "facts" Adridharana is very irresponsibly presenting nothing more than his own mental speculations, dragged out from the umbral regions of his own deeply suspicous mind. The Delhi temple has plenty of evidence to show that what Madhava Krishna was accused of was true. From his own letter, it is clear that Madhava Krishna was in total despair and torn between his cheating propensity and his attraction for devotional service. In the end, he could not live with what he had done and his appearance in Mayapur was for him apparantly an attempt at a final act of redemption. "b) When he was found 'hanging' his feet were still on a chair. However everyone knows that in order for hanging to take place, the chair needs to actually be *kicked away*." "c) There are *no chairs* in room 207 or in any other guest rooms in the Long Building." Once again Adridharana hears and reports false information instead of ascertaining the actual facts before launching on his crusade. To give him some due, Adridharana is at least correct in stating that there are no chairs in the Chakra building guest rooms. There are however, several 4-bed rooms with wooden stools, approx. 18" high in them. As stated before, when Madhava Krishna was transferred from 225 to 227 one such stool was taken there for him to sit on. Madhava Krishna's body was seen hanging by several devotees, both western and Indian. It was hanging by the neck from the ceiling fan. He had placed the stool on the bed and stood on that. When he was found his right foot was still on the stool, with his leg bent at the knee. His left leg was dangling down the side about an inch above the bed and the full weight of his body was suspended by the rope. "These two facts make it clear that the devotee was already dead, and that the hanging incident was then staged to make it appear as suicide - though in this case it was done very incompetently." We hope the readers of this report can now ascertain what the facts really are and can appreciate the highly offensive and irresponsible nature of the above statement. "d) The fact that no post-mortem was carried out, which would be standard in a situation such as this, indicates that defintely something suspicious happened here, and someone had something to hide." One wonders how so many falsehoods can be misrepresented as "facts". It is indeed extremely regretable. As before mentioned there was indeed a police report (UD 561/99 dated 16/11/1999, Nabadwip) and the police gave the body for post-mortem. As soon as it is available it will be posted for everyone to see. Conclusion From our investigation, and from the police involvement, it is clear to us that there was absolutely no foul play in the death of Madhava Krishna dasa and that he did in fact commit suicide. Many statements of Adridharana such as the ones below, "We have just received the following shocking report from senior devotees in Mayapur." "The above are the facts of the case, which are well known to anyone in Mayapur." "However the following facts... are not generally well known" ") The fact that no post-mortem was carried out,...." indicate that he is quite confident and certain about his "facts" -- facts which under even simple scrutiny do not hold up. We are deeply distressed that a senior devotee and disciple of Srila Prabhupada should so grossly misrepresent events so willingly in order to discredit and blacken the name of Dayaram prabhu and the Mayapur devotees. We shall not speculate here as to why he choses to do this, but it would seem fitting that proper Vaisnava etiquette be followed by Adridharana viz a viz the issuance of a formal withdrawal of his accusations along with a humble and sincere apology for his offensive remarks. This we feel would be the least he could do in these circumstances. We hope that this report now clears the air and settles the minds of innocent devotees who have been disturbed by what can only be described as a recklessly inaccurate, jaundiced mispresentation of events. Your humble servant, Hari-sauri dasa Questions by Akincana Group of devotees to Adri 1.There are so many positive things also happening in Mayapur, why you never take the pain to broadcast them? 2.Why did not you first get your facts corrected by MAC or from any other senior responsible devotee from Mayapur before submitting it to the larger body of devotees? 3. Just because MK committed suicide in Mayapur you are implicating Mayapur management of false charges, but on the same length, don't you think that in you own temple Golokenath left his body untimely ONLY because of your mismanagement in the form of neglect? 4. Just like Hari Sauri Prabhu has described the full repory leading to the death of MK, will you describe the events leading to the death of Golokenath, a disciple of JPS but very very close to BCS & Krishna Kesava, a disciple of BCS? Because otherwise your own temple devotees think that both the above named died only because of your neglect - (you were ably supported by Sattvic, the Vice-President & Mahajan, the General Manager, who played a leading role in Golokenath's passing away ö all three of you are very significantly IRG leaders!!!) 5. Didn't Krsna Kesava get a heart attack ONLY because of your behaviour? 6. Since now you have taken the role of a reformer of ISKCON do you think your attitude towards Mayapur management is apt? 7. Even from the rittik point of view aren't they all your Godbrothers that also junior to you? Are you supposed to deal with your junior Godbrothers in this way? 8. Is the cultural upbringing that you had from your Indian parents? 9. Is this the etiquette you learnt from Srila Prabhupada after all these years in ISKCON? Please give the Vaishnava community all real facts which can be easily verifiable & not some junk as you supplied in the case of MK. For Prabhupada's sake be honest!!!! Servants of the Vaishnavas Akincana Group of Devotees PS : If you want you can address your curses, criticisms, etc. to dr-sarasvati@hushmail.com Comment on this story  Contact VNN about this storySend this story to a friend
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