Court rejects interim bail of Shirdi trustees
In a development that spells more trouble for the three controversial trustees of the Shirdi Sai Baba Santhan, a local court in Kopargaon on Friday cancelled their interim bail, making them liable for arrest.
The trio, captain Suresh Vasudev, K.C. Pandey and Urmila Jadhav, have been under the scanner since March this year, after a court in Rahata near Shirdi ordered the Shirdi police to conduct inquiries into allegations of misappropriation of trust funds against them. The police has initiated its inquiries, and the trio had received interim bail from the court.
Officials with the Shirdi police confirmed about the cancellation of the bail on Friday. “We are aware of the development and will be arresting the three accused soon,” said Datta Pawar, police inspector, Shirdi police station.
In March this year, the Aurangabad division bench of the Bombay high court had also ordered the disbandment of the Sai Baba Sansthan Trust, Shirdi and asked the collector, Ahmednagar to take charge of the day-to-day working of the trust with immediate effect.
The HC sacked the 18 members of the trust, on the charges that their appointments were arbitrary and not legal. The disbandment came as a result of a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by activist Rajendra Gondkar, the Shirdi president of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sandip Kulkarni, an activist. The PIL claimed that as appointments were arbitrary, the huge donations received by the temple were coveted by the trustees.
“The trio has rented out the trust’s vehicles illegally and also
pocketed money by showing false bills times and again,” Mr Gondkar alleged.
Pandey, Jadhav and Vasudev have been charged with cheating to the tune of nearly `2 lakh between 2004 and 2007.
The PIL also argued that several former MLAs and MPs were appointed to the Shirdi trust in a clear violation of the eligibility rules; the HC too had observed that the temple, one of the richest in India, is not being managed as per the rules and regulations.
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