Shankarananda Giri of Kriya Yoga Ashram, Bhubaneswar under Scanner

After Sarathi Baba and Sura Baba, Swami Shankarananda Giri of Kriya Yoga Ashram at VSS Nagar and the Prabhujee English Medium School established by him are under the scanner. Local TV channels Zee Kalinga and Kanak TV reported that he was charged of land fraud, cheating and embezzlement of money. Some foreign nationals from Denmark and Romania came in TV, charging him of cheating and fraud.

The fraud cases came into light 2010, but no action was taken against Shankarananda Giri. The cases were put in the cold storage. Some Ashram officials, including those at the top, were also sacked or left when the issue snowballed into a big controversy.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India had also raised serious questions over the way Shankarananda grabbed government land to establish Prabhujee English Medium School and asked the Odisha Government to retrieve the land from him. But, no action was taken. They were protected by the state government for long despite several allegations and cases in the last five years. Shankarananda has three Kriya Yoga Ashrams in Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Rishikesh.

Allen Nielsen of Munkebo in Denmark, who filed a cheating complaint against Shankarananda in February 2010 and later again in 2015, submitted additional documents against the self-styled godman at the Saheed Nagar police station in Bhubaneswar. Nielsen, who came in contact with Shankarananda at a religious seminar in Denmark in 1991, said he gave the money for investment purposes after having faith in the godman.

“We filed a fresh FIR against the godman after gathering additional information to make our case strong. Today, we came to the police station to submit additional information relating to the FIR,” said Nielsen’s lawyer Laxminarayan Rayatsingh.

The lawyer also alleged that the godman had threatened to kill his client when he demanded that his money be returned. Meanwhile, the revenue divisional commissioner has written to 10 district collectors to collect information about the godman and his alleged encroachment of government land.

Note: Odisha News Insight does not pursue a personal vendetta against Swami Shankarananda Giri. We have written what the local TV channels have reported so far. Even, the “victims”, who are foreign nationals, have appeared before the TV channels. The issue has snowballed into a major controversy now. Hope the truth will come out. We neither accuse nor give clean chit to anyone. The law will take its own course.