Mumbai: Three employees of ISKCON New Vrindavan East Trust (Madhuban Ashram) have been booked for allegedly embezzling the trust’s donation funds. The Khar police have registered a cheating case based on a complaint filed by the trust. The accused have been identified as Prem Prakash Rana, Harsh Kumar Kaushal, and an unidentified individual.
According to the FIR, the trust’s head office is located in Khar West. The trust manages temples and ashrams in Gurgaon (Haryana), Kurukshetra (Haryana), and Rishikesh (Dehradun), along with Madhuban Ashram. At these premises, the trust provides accommodation and meals to devotees at affordable prices. The administration of Madhuban Ashram is operated from the trust’s Khar office. The ashram has a 25-room guest house for devotees.
On January 12, a devotee, Satyavrat Gaud, approached the trust’s Khar office and filed a complaint. He stated that when he visited Madhuban Ashram in December 2025, he had a meal at the ashram’s restaurant. Initially, the cashier asked for cash, which he refused, and then he paid the bill online. Although he received a receipt, it carried the GST number 05ABRPA4645H1ZP, which does not belong to the trust and is not authorised for its use.
In another incident, a devotee, Shreya Torane, visited Madhuban Ashram in January 2026. She was also asked to pay in cash while booking a room. When she refused, the cashier provided a staff member’s mobile number for payment via Google Pay, which she used.
Further, on January 20, another devotee, Rahul Patil, filed a complaint via email stating that the ashram did not accept online donations and insisted on cash payments. After he donated ₹5,000, the staff issued him two receipts of ₹2,000 each and one receipt of ₹1,000.
Following these complaints, the trust initiated an internal inquiry. It revealed that Prem Prakash Rana alias Paramanand Das (50), who worked as a cashier at the Madhuban Ashram guest house, along with another employee, Harsh Kaushal, and their associates, had created a separate entity with a similar name, “Nav Madhuban Ashram Trust”. The accused allegedly used this entity to cheat devotees by issuing fake receipts. Devotees believed they were dealing with the original trust.
The accused allegedly collected donation money in a personal account opened in the name of “Nav Madhuban Ashram Trust”. They also distributed pamphlets during Krishna Janmashtami (August 2025), printing their own UPI IDs to collect donations. The inquiry further revealed that the accused had been defrauding devotees from 2022 to 2026.
Hirishkesh Mafatlal, 71, founder trustee, subsequently filed a formal complaint. Based on this, the police registered a case on March 29 under Section 318(4) (cheating) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Meanwhile, a similar case had been registered against the accused in Uttarakhand in 2019. However, in 2025, a district court in Tehri Garhwal acquitted them due to a lack of evidence.
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