SURENDRANATH MISHRA Vs. STATE OF ODISHA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This verse is penned down to glorify the significance of spiritual Guru. Sant Kabir asks, "If both, Guru and Govind (Lord Krishna) were to appear at the door, whose feet shall I worship first - He answers, "It has to be the Guru's feet first, because without him, how would I have known Govind - I sacrifice my life to my Guru as it was he who has shown me Govind. Spiritual Guru teaches the followers to experience the peak of happiness and to overcome their problems in day -to - day life in an intelligent manner. Hindu Sanatan Dharma portrays Guru as creator of spiritual knowledge for which he is called the 'Brahma'; he rears the disciples like his own children, develops different skills in them such as perseverance, dedication and compassion etc., bestows spiritual experiences and restores serenity of mind for which he is called 'Bishnu' and he dispels the darkness of spiritual ignorance in life and enlightens the disciples for which he is called 'Maheswar' and it is believed that a glance of Guru is the manifestation of 'Parabrahman'. The relationship between a spiritual Guru and disciple is based on unconditional divine love and wisdom. A spiritual Guru is a living embodiment of truth who assists the disciple to attain salvation of life. His love is unselfish and above the material desires and satisfactions. A true devotee surrenders before his Guru completely and practises his teachings in a very faithful and obedient manner and does not hesitate in complying with any order of his Master without slightest hitch in the blink of an eye. A fake Guru creates a belief in the disciple that he has supernatural power and therefore plays upon the religious sentiments and misleads the disciple. Sometimes the blind faith of the disciple on the Guru gets disturbed when he does not get the desired result even after following all the advices of Guru. A shrewd Guru then changes his stand and tries to regain the confidence of the disciple by advising him to do something else and in this process the disciple is destroyed forever. The facts of the case is a glaring example of how a so -called spiritual Guru created a pseudo belief in the disciple to cure his mentally retracted son and thereby obtained valuable lands from the disciple in the name of his Trust. The disciple did not get the desired result nor his son was cured of his mental ailment and that is how he came forward with accusations against the Guru for misguiding him, cheating him and depriving him of his valuable property. The disciple is none else than Shri Mochiram Sahu of village Dharmanagar, Berhampur in the district of Ganjam who is the informant in the case and the spiritual portrayed Guru is accused petitioner Surendranath Mishra commonly known as 'Sura Baba'.

(2.) By presenting the First Information Report on 03.09.2015 before Inspector in Charge, Chatrapur Police Station, the informant set the law into motion alleging therein that he had been to Trahi Achuta Asharam located in Jhinti Sasan, Balakati, Khurda in March 2013 for treatment of his mentally retracted son. The petitioner Surendranath Mishra @ Sura Baba kept him as well as his ailing son for about 3 to 4 days, performed puja and told the informant that his son would be cured if he gives something for the construction of a Branch of the Ashram at Chatrapur. On the assurance of petitioner Surendranath Mishra, the informant gave his consent to transfer the lands situated near Chatrapur bypass road appertaining to Sabik Khata No.441/42, Hal Khata No.441/1186, Plot No.271, Area Ac.0.515 decimal and another plot bearing Khata No.441/2657, Plot No.260, Area Ac.0.338 decimal, Khata No.441/2513, Plot No.258/4216, Area Ac.0.51 decimal, Khata No.378, Plot No.227, Area Ac.0.50 decimal, Khata No.37, Plot No.262, Area Ac.0.52 decimal, all total Ac.0.455 decimal and Ac.0.970 decimal. Accordingly the petitioner Trilochan Mishra who is the son of petitioner Surendranath Mishra and one Devi Prasad Rath came to Chatrapur Sub -Registrar Office on 12.04.2013 to prepare the necessary documents. The informant was called and he was asked to put his signatures on the documents. As the informant and his son were simpletons, they put their signatures on the documents. Subsequently the informant came to know that instead of executing a gift deed, a sale deed was executed in which the sale price of the land was mentioned as Rs.26,84,570/ -. It is the case of the informant that he had not received a single pie either from the petitioner Trilochan Mishra or from Devi Prasad Rath in connection with the transfer of his land. The ailment of the son of the informant was also not cured. Even though the informant complained before petitioner Surendranath Mishra in that regard but got no response from him, on the other hand petitioner Trilochan Mishra and Devi Prasad Rath threatened the informant with dire consequence in case he discloses the matter anywhere. After coming to know about the fraudulent activities of petitioner Surendranath Mishra, the informant came to Chatapur Police Station and lodged the First Information Report and made a prayer therein to get back his lands. On the basis of such First Information Report, Chatrapur P.S. Case No.119 of 2015 dated 03.09.2015 was registered under sections 420/423/467/468/471/506/120 -B read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and the Inspector in charge himself took up investigation of the case. The Crime Branch assumed full control over investigation of the case as per the CID CB Office Order No.152/CID dated 04.09.2015 and the case was reregistered as CID, CB, Odisha, Cuttack P.S. Case No.28 of 2015 for offences punishable under sections 420/423/467/468/471/506/120 -B read with section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Inspector in Charge Shri R.N. Mohanty was requested to take up investigation by the Inspector in Charge CID, CB, Police Station.

(3.) During course of investigation of the case, it came to limelight that about thirty six years back, the petitioner Surendranath Mishra declared that he had received a POTHI of Mahapurusha Achyutananda from one SADHU Baba. He also organized a Yagyan to attract the public with a view to deceive and cheat them. Then he established an Ashram at Trahi Achyuta Nagar and started predicting future of persons consulting the so called Achyutananda POTHI. He was deceitfully suggesting remedies and collecting huge money from the public by making false predictions and remedial measures. He proclaimed himself as a GURU and created disciples giving GURU MANTRA to them with a view to collect money by such deception for personal gain. He also formed a Trust named as SHREE SHREE SHREE MAHAPURUSHA ACHYUTANANDA TRUST in which he was the Founder Trustee. The Trust was registered in the office of Sub -Registrar, Balipatna on 29.11.1991. His eldest son accused petitioner Trilochan Mishra was the Chairman -Cum - Managing Trustee, his younger son Biranchi Narayan Mishra was the Vice -Chairman, Khetra Mohan Pattnaik was the Executive Trustee, Monaranjan Acharya was the Secretary and five others were the Trustees including accused Devi Prasad Rath. Gradually, lakhs of people from different parts of the State and outside became his disciples and fell prey to the petitioner Surendranath Mishra. As a result of inducement, each disciple used to pay Rs.15/ - per month as BATULI, etc., Rs.90/ - in every one and half months during HABISHA and Rs.132/ - during GURU DIKHYA. The devotees were also paying thousands of rupees in different festive occasions of Ashram. Petitioner Surendranath Mishra was also collecting Rs.20/ - from each person for consulting the POTHI. In this manner, thousands of disciples including common people were cheated as a result of which they delivered money to him to the tune of Crores. As such the accused persons acquired land to the extent of 88 acres at different places in the name of the Trust and in their names and in the names of their family members. Investigation further revealed that the eldest son of the informant namely Binayak Sahu has been suffering from mental derangement since 2006. In spite of treatments by Psychiatrist, he was not cured. Getting information about the POTHI & spiritual power acquired by petitioner Surendranath Mishra, the informant met petitioner Surendranath Mishra in his Ashram along with his ailing son to cure his son from mental infirmity. Surendranath Mishra consulted the POTHI and prescribed some herbal medicines which he purchased from the Ashram itself. After six months of treatment, the informant, his wife Laxmipriya Sahu & son Binayak Sahu became disciples of petitioner Surendranath Mishra. They followed all the instructions given by Gurudev/Ashram including giving BATULI, KARA SEVA contributions towards the functions and construction of temples and buildings of the Ashram. About one hundred people of Berhampur and Chatrapur area also became his disciples. Since no improvement was marked in the condition of the son of the informant, he treated his son in Central Institute of Psychiatry, Kamke, Ranchi, Jharkhand on 19.01.2012 by other doctors. However, they were continuing to visit the Ashram. Investigation further revealed that in March, 2013, Surendranath Mishra induced the informant to donate some lands for construction of Branch of Ashram at Chatrapur. He assured to the informant that his son would be completely cured from mental derangement and accordingly, the informant agreed to donate his lands located at Jaya Durga Nagar, Chatrapur for the Branch of Ashram. On 12.04.2013 accused Trilochan Mishra, the Chairman -Cum -Managing Trustee and Devi Prasad Rath, the Trustee of Shree Shree Shree Mahapurusha Achyutananda Trust arrived at Chatrapur for registration of the said land in favour of the Trust. Informant had desired to execute a Gift Deed and had opted for it. The deed was executed in the office of Sub - Registrar, Chatrapur in favour of the Trust in which the informant Mochiram Sahu signed as the transferor and his son Binayak Sahu signed as a witness. The informant had an impression that it was a Gift Deed through which his lands were being donated to a divine institution but a Sale Deed was executed instead of a Gift Deed. It came to light that the informant was not paid with any consideration money. Moreover, the informant had purchased non -judicial stamp papers paying about Rs.1,45,000/ - from his pocket with a belief to cure his son. Since no improvement was made in the mental condition of his son, he could realize that he was cheated by petitioner Surendranath Mishra. Being afraid of threat given by accused persons, he did not dare to raise his voice. When the informant came to know from television broadcast and news papers about the arrest of the petitioner Surendranath Mishra and his two sons for their illegal activities and cheating, he could muster courage and lodged the F.I.R. in Chatrapur Police Station on 03.09.2015. Investigation also revealed that the Trust had applied for mutation using the said forged sale deed and got the land recorded in name of the Trust and Khatian (PATTA) was issued by Tahasildar, Chatrapur. According to the Khatian (PATTA), the land is recorded in Khata No.441/3632 of Mouza -Chatrapur having plot No.258/4286 (Bila -2) with area Ac.0.041 dec., plot No.260 (Bila -2) with area Ac.0.338 dec. and plot No.261 (Gharabari) with area Ac.0.515 dec. (Total Ac.0.894 dec.) in the name of Shree Shree Shree Mahapurush Achytananda Trust, care of trustees petitioner Trilochan Mishra and Sri Devi Prasad Rath. During investigation, the Investigating Officer seized cash amount Rs.29,93,610/ - in total, gold ornaments weighing 152 grams, silver ornaments weighing 1980 grams, land records, computer CPUs/Hard Disks from Trahi Achyuta Ashram along with the palm leaf POTHIs used for cheating. Similarly gold ornaments weighing 342.99 grams and silver ornaments weighing 4.98 grams were seized from bank locker of petitioner Trilochan Mishra. Two four wheeled vehicles were also seized. Total amount to the tune of Rs.2,74,34,865/ - were found to have been deposited in different Banks in 91 accounts in respect of Shree Shree Shree Mahapurusha Achyutananda Trust and petitioner Surendranath Mishra & his family members. Large amount (total Rs.21,54,516/ -) were also found deposited in 36 policies and 3 FDs in L.I.C. Rs.35,28,300/ - was found deposited in HDFC Standard Life Insurance, Rs.1,97,000/ - in HDFC Mutual Fund and Rs.1,14,000/ - in Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund. That apart, land around 88 acres at different places were found recorded in the names of the Trust, petitioners Surendra Nath Mishra, Trilochan Mishra and their family members. The investigation further revealed that the accused persons misappropriated money of the Trust by making false declaration in Income Tax Returns. It was held to be an organized crime and the accused persons hatched out a criminal conspiracy to commit the crime. Proceeds of crime collected in this manner were deposited in their personal accounts and lockers in different banks. The material evidence collected during investigation further revealed that the petitioners hatched out a criminal conspiracy to cheat the informant Mochiram Sahu and to grab his valuable lands. Accordingly, they managed to record the valuable lands of the informant in the name of the Trust by preparing forged sale deed on 12.04.2013 in place of a gift deed falsely mentioning payment of Rs.26,84,570/ - to the informant (seller) as consideration amount. Thus, a false registered deed was prepared and the land was mutated by using the said false document as genuine. The petitioners made Sri Binayak Sahu, son of informant Mochiram Sahu as a witness to the deed knowing full well that Binayak Sahu is mentally unsound and unfit to stand as a witness. The Trust did not contribute anything towards purchase/acquisition of land for Branch Ashram and the disciples of Chatrapur and Berhampur area also did not arrange fund for the land. The investigation further revealed that it is falsely mentioned in the deed that consideration amount of Rs.26,84,570/ - has been paid to Mochiram Sahoo earlier in the village in presence of deed witnesses, i.e., Binayak Sahu, the son of informant and G. Jawaharlal. On examination, these witnesses stated that they have no knowledge about payment of the consideration amount and besides the bank statements of the informant Mochiram Sahu also did not show the deposit of consideration money. The bank accounts of the Trust or accused persons did not disclose withdrawal of such amount for payment of consideration amount to the informant, as falsely claimed by the accused persons. From the statements of the witnesses and medical reports & prescriptions, it was evident that Binayak Sahu, son of the informant Mochiram Sahu was mentally infirm and he has not recovered contrary to the promise/assurance made by the petitioner Surendranath Mishra. The petitioners fraudulently collected huge money & valuables from thousands of people by cheating by using so -called palm leaf POTHI of Mahapurush Achyutananda. The investigation further revealed that the petitioner Surendranath Mishra is the Founder Trustee of Shree Shree Shree Mahapurusha Achyutananda Trust and all the activities of Trahi Achyuta Ashram and of Trust were practically managed by the petitioners Surendranath Mishra and Trilochan Mishra and Trahi Achyuta Ashram was evaluated by a team of Assistant Engineers of R & B Department and the value of built up structure of the Ashram was estimated at Rs.20,44,43,000/ - and the petitioners could not account for those movable and immovable properties. The Investigating Officer came to the conclusion that there is reason to believe that most of those properties were acquired illegally by cheating the public including the informant of the case with an intention to misappropriate for personal gains.