थॉमस फ़ेरारो (Thomas Ferraro), “Krishna scandals boiling again” [“कृष्ण कांड फिर उबाल पर”] (UPI NewsFeature, 12 अप्रैल 1987)

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                                              UPI ARCHIVES       APRIL 12, 1987


                                              Krishna scandals boiling
                                              again;NEWLN:UPI NewsFeature

                                              NEW VRINDABAN, W.Va. -- The fading red-and-white banner
                                              above the entrance of the Temple of Understanding proclaims,
                                              in Sanskrit, glory to the guru of this Hare Krishna community.


                                              Before the canvas banner weathers another year, law
                                              authorities may pin a raft of criminal charges on the guru,
                                              Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada, and members of his mountain
                                              farm settlement. A wide-ranging investigation is looking at
                                              allegations concerning drugs, money, child abuse and even
                                              murder.


                                              Specifically, investigators are trying to find out if Bhaktipada,
                                              49, formerly Keith Ham, the son of a Baptist preacher, and
                                              others conspired in the suspected murder-for-hire in Los
                                              Angeles last spring of a dissident devotee.


                                              They also want to determine if the community's estimated $5
                                              million-a-year, coast-to-coast panhandling operation, involving
                                              unauthorized use of sports team logos and the comic character
                                              'Snoopy' on caps and bumper stickers, violates trademark and
                                              copyright laws.


                                              In February, the headmaster of New Vrindaban's now-closed
                                              school and one of his aides were charged with molesting a boy
                                              over a three-year period. Other possible such cases are now
                                              being examined.


                                              Officials say the overall investigation, already 10 months old,
                                              has intensified and new witnesses have emerged since the
                                              governing body of the India-based sect excommunicated
                                              Bhaktipada on March 16 for insubordination and and the
                                              suspected corruption.


                                              'Some of these witnesses are corroborating information we
                                              already had, others are providing us new stuff,' said a source
                                              close to the investigation, who declined to elaborate other than
                                              to say the witnesses include Krishnas.


                                              Bhaktipada, who preaches 'plain living and high thinking,'
                                              denies any wrongdoing. In an interview with UPI after the

excommunication and before he left on a trip to India, he said
he is the victim of religious persecution and Krishna politics.


He maintains that the action by the Governing Body
Commission of the International Society of Krishna
Consciousness (known as ISKCON), which accused him of
violating religious policy and trying to form his own movement,
was unlawful.


He vows to maintain control of his 4,000-acre community,
which features 'The Palace of Gold,' billed as a top tourist
attraction in West Virginia. He maintains the community has
700 residents 'and within a year, I guarantee you we'll have
close to 1,000. We're getting fired up.'


Sgt. Tom Westfall of the Marshall County Sheriff's Office
believes there are only 450 residents 'and the number appears
to be dropping. Some devotees are getting concerned about
being cut off from the rest of ISKCON.'


New Vrindaban, 75 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, near rural
Moundsville, W.Va., is among the biggest of 14 independently
incorporated Krishna communities in North America.
Worldwide, the sect, rocked by power struggles and charges of
immorality among leaders, has an estimated 5,000 fulltime
devotees, down 50 percent from a decade ago.


Bhaktipada's saffron-robbed, chanting and pig-tailed disciples
describe him as wise, inspiring and pure. But some ex-
followers, investigators and Krishna researchers call him
egotistical, harsh and dictatorial. They say he seems driven to
make New Vrindaban, named for the birthplace in India of Lord
Krishna, a monument to himself.


The investigation is being conducted by the Justice
Department, West Virginia State Police, Los Angeles Police and
the Marshall County Sheriff's Office. The Internal Revenue
Service is being kept apprised.


One central figure is dead.


His name was Steven Bryant, a dissident follower who spent
the last few years of his life criss-crossing America alleging
criminal actions at New Vrindaban including drug dealing, child
molestation and beatings.


Last May, while seated at the wheel of his van a block and a half
from a Krishna temple in Los Angeles, Bryant was shot twice in
the head at close range and died instantly. He was 33.


Within a few days, another devotee, Thomas Drescher, 38, of
Ravenna, Ohio, who Sgt. Westfall says was known as 'an
enforcer' at New Vrindaban, was arrested and charged with the
murder.

In January, in an unrelated case, Drescher and another
devotee, Daniel Reid, were convicted for the 1983 slaying at
New Vrindaban of still another devotee, Charles St. Denis, in a
personal dispute. Drescher's record also includes a 1979 drug
conviction in Ohio -- an operation that investigators now
believe may have pumped money into New Vrindaban, sources
say.


Drescher is serving a life sentence at the State Penitentiary in
Moundsville for the St. Denis murder. He is awaiting
extradition to Los Angeles to stand trial for the murder of
Bryant.


Drescher says authorities offered him possible leniency if he
will testify that Bhaktipada paid him to kill Bryant. 'I'm not
going to bear false witness against an exalted spiritual leader,'
he said, fingering prayer beads in a small interview room at the
penitentiary.


'I have no knowledge of any illegal activity by the swami,' said
Drescher, who denies killing St. Denis or Bryant.


Investigators think Drescher knows plenty.


They believe Drescher stalked Bryant at the request of the
Krishnas, and that he was promised $20,000 but paid only
$4,000 to pull the trigger, sources say. Authorities also believe
the money came through a former leader of the Krishna temple
in Cleveland, a satellite operation of New Vrindaban.


At the time of his arrest, sources say, Drescher had a notebook
- Drescher denies it -- that included a description of Bryant's
van, and addresses where Bryant might be found. Authorities
think they know a possible source of those addresses. Three
months before he was killed, Bryant was locked up by the
sheriff's office for carrying a gun and for saying and he others
were plotting to get Bhaktipada.


The sheriff's office, in a move now criticized by some
investigators, let two officials at New Vrindaban see Bryant's
address book to determine if any of those listed lived in the
community. None were found. But, sources say, investigators
later found matching addresses in Drescher's notebook and in
Bryant's address book, including one in Los Angeles near where
Bryant was killed. ---


When Drescher was taken into custody, New Vrindaban
distanced itself from him. Later, with Drescher saying he
wanted to be a 'good devotee,' the community reached out to
him. Umapati, a Krishna minister, now visits Drescher at the
penitentiary weekly.


'He's preaching up a storm' in prison, said Umapati, seated
outside the Temple of Understanding. 'He has attracted a lot of

interest among prisoners who want to know about Krishna
Consciousness.'


Back at the penitentiary, Drescher said, 'In a way, I'm sort of
their guru.'


A federal grand jury last September began examing New
Vrindaban. U.S. Attorney William Kolibash wants a new panel
to resume the probe this spring. 'I hope to have a resolution of
the case by the end of the year,' he said.


Residents of the commune range in age from toddlers to senior
citizens. Most are in their 20s and 30s. They work at the
community's dairy farm, and harvest crops, build temples and
make bricks and jewelry.


Mankumari, 37, formerly Marsha Ferry of affluent Potomac,
Md., has lived at New Vrindaban since 1972, shortly after
dropping out of the University of Maryland.


Mankumari found it unfair that the entire community is
blackened for the actions of a few. 'It's like a pock mark on the
moon,' she said. 'The moon is very bright and beautiful. What
are you going to do, complain about a few pock marks?' She still
strongly supports Bhaktipada.


Another Krishna devotee, a member of the movement for 15
years, said she left New Vrindaban a few years ago primarily
because of Bhaktipada.


'I think he's sick, really weird,' said the woman, a former friend
of Bryant's now living in California. 'You either worshipped him
(Bhaktipada) completely or it was dangerous to be there.'


The woman, who asked not to be identified, said Bhaktipada
'told men to beat their wives because they like it.' Mankumari
and other women at New Vrindaban says such comments are
ludicrous. ---


Among Bryant's allegations were that New Vrindaban, now
planning to build a new $50 million Temple of Understanding,
was financed in part by drug money.


Investigators believe that between 1979 and 1981, Emil
Sofsky, a fugitive sought for a 1979 drug conviction, delivered
about $1 million in cash to New Vrindaban from his New York
base, sources say.


Authorities have found no evidence of any active or recent
drug operations involving New Vrindaban, but believe they
have found a major source of money -- possibly unlawful
panhandling.

On Jan. 5, about 50 members of the FBI, sheriff's office, state
police and the IRS raided New Vrindaban and seized three
truckloads of bumper stickers, baseball caps and buttons
carrying logos of scores of pro and college sports teams, as well
as 'Peanut' cartoon characters 'Snoopy' and 'Woodstock.'


In a court affidavit the FBI said it has 'reason to believe' that
the goods violate trademark and copyright statutes and are
part of a scheme to 'traffic counterfeit goods,' asking
'donations' when handing out the merchandise.


Bhaktipada responded, 'Isn't it strange that the government is
spending so much time and money to defend 'Snoopy.' I can't
imagine this happening if we were a Catholic or Presbyterian
church.


'Our lawyers said we have committed no violations,' he said. 'If
you don't sell, if you give out the material in the process of
collecting donations, there is no violation.'


Some colleges, pro sports teams and the holder of the Peanuts'
copyright are considering lawsuits.


Bhaktipada, a native of Peekskill, N.Y., joined the movement in
1966 as one of the first disciples in North America of His
Divine Grace Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who came to
the United States from India in 1965.


Shortly after his excommunication, Bhaktipada departed for
what he said was a previously scheduled trip to India.


A few days later, at the Temple of Understanding, Umapati
interrupted the daily 5 a.m. service -- where bouncing devotees
chant Hare Krishna -- to read a resolution denouncing the
excommunication.


'We declare the expulsion null and void,' Umapati declared.
'Everyone in agreement raise your hands.'


Amid muffled cheers, all of the nearly 100 devotees did so.


Umapati smiled and said: 'Hare Krishna.'